Tag Archive for: geological

Utah Geological Survey

Geologic Map of The Vernon NE Quadrangle, Tooele County, Utah

By: Stefan M. Kirby

This map represents the geology of the Vernon NE quadrangle at 1:24,000 scale. The Vernon NE quadrangle covers a part of the floor of Rush Valley northeast of the Vernon Hills in southeastern Tooele County. Unconsolidated surficial deposits of Holocene to lower Pleistocene? age cover nearly the entire quadrangle. These deposits include various alluvial fan and channel sediments, and lacustrine units deposited during both the transgression and regression of Lake Bonneville. The Salt Lake Formation is exposed in the western half of the quadrangle as a series of topographically low outcrops partially overlain and surrounded by unconsolidated deposits. The exposed thickness of the Salt Lake Formation is up to 2850 feet (870m).

This CD contains geographic information system (GIS) files in ESRI file geodatabase and shapefile formats. Two plates, a geologic map at 1:24,000 scale and an explanation plate, and a 6-page booklet are also included in PDF format. The latest version of Adobe Reader is required to view the PDF files.

GET IT HERE

Utah Geological Survey

Geologic Map of The Faust Quadrangle, Tooele County, Utah

By: Stefan M. Kirby

This map represents the geology of the Faust quadrangle at 1:24,000 scale. The Faust quadrangle covers part of Rush Valley and includes the southeastern part of the Onaqui Mountains, the northernmost Vernon Hills and adjoining parts of the valley floor in southeastern Tooele County, Utah. Most of the Faust quadrangle is covered by unconsolidated deposits of Holocene to Pleistocene age. These deposits include various alluvial fan and channel deposits, and lacustrine units deposited during the maximum transgression of Lake Bonneville. At least two prominent systems of normal faults along the flank of the Onaqui Mountains and near the Vernon Hills cut unconsolidated deposits within the quadrangle. Sedimentary rocks exposed in the quadrangle include folded Pennsylvanian bedrock of the Oquirrh Group consolidated Tertiary basin fill of the Salt Lake Formation.

This DVD contains geographic information system (GIS) files in ESRI file geodatabase and shapefile formats. Two plates, a geologic map at 1:24,000 scale and an explanation plate, and an 8-page booklet are also included in PDF format. The latest version of Adobe Reader is required to view the PDF files.

GET IT HERE

Utah Geological Survey

"Spot the Rock" February 6, 2014

Happy Thursday, everyone! The weekend is almost here, and with it, another round of “Spot the Rock.” Tell us below where in Utah you think this rockin’ site is found!

Like us on FACEBOOK or follow us on TWITTER to participate in “Spot the Rock”!

UPDATE: Location Revealed

Step Mountain is a Tertiary-aged (dated at 36 million years) andesitic dike in Rose Canyon, three miles southwest of Herriman. The summit is at 6109 feet above sea level. The mountain is a fine example of columnar jointing, typically associated with basalt, but also found in andesites. Columnar jointing is found below the surface of thick lava flows, sills, and dikes, and is caused by the cooling and contracting of the lava creating long vertical joints that form slender polygonal columns, typically pentagonal or hexagonal in shape. In the case of Step Mountain dike, magma filled a crack in the pre-existing rock and the joints formed horizontal to the surface, so the columns act as “steps.” The weathering-resistant dike now has a prominent relief due to the erosion of the softer surrounding volcanic rock.

Utah Geological Survey

Geologic Map of The Saint John Quadrangle, Tooele County, Utah

By: Stefan M. Kirby

This map represents the geology of the Saint John quadrangle at 1:24,000 scale. The Saint John quadrangle, in southeastern Tooele County, Utah, covers a part of the floor of Rush Valley. Unconsolidated surficial deposits of Holocene to Pleistocene age cover nearly the entire quadrangle. These deposits include various alluvial fan and channel sediments, and lacustrine units deposited during both the transgression and regression of Lake Bonneville. Normal faults cut unconsolidated deposits in the western half and northeast corner of the quadrangle. In the northeast corner of the quadrangle, conjugate normal faults form a prominent horst and a series of west-facing scarps in late Pleistocene mixed alluvial and lacustrine deposits. Bedrock includes Pennsylvanian-age Oquirrh Group sedimentary rocks exposed in the southwest corner of the quadrangle, which consists of interbedded marine limestone and sandstone. Consolidated Tertiary fine-grained lacustrine basin fill of the Salt Lake Formation is exposed just north of the community of Saint John.

This CD contains geographic information system (GIS) files in ESRI file geodatabase and shapefile formats. Two plates, a geologic map at 1:24,000 scale and an explanation plate, and an 8-page booklet are also included in PDF format. The latest version of Adobe Reader is required to view the PDF files.

GET IT HERE

Utah Geological Survey

Regional Groundwater Flow and Water Quality in The Virgin River Basin and Surrounding Areas, Utah and Surrounding Areas, Utah and Arizona

By: Paul Inkenbrandt, Kevin Thomas, and J. Lucy Jordan

In this 46-page report, we characterized the deep aquifer system and its connections to the overlying aquifers in the area of the Hurricane fault in Washington County by examining well logs, creating regional potentiometric-surface maps, compiling groundwater quality data, conducting gravity surveys, examining remote sensing data for surface lineaments, and determining areas for potential monitoring wells. Results of the study were: (1) R and C aquifer groundwater depths are > 500 feet in the I-15 corridor area, (2) a groundwater divide likely exists south of the Utah-Arizona state line, (3) groundwater flow follows open fracture systems, (4) fracture conductivity is highest near the fault, (5) dissolution of evaporites increase groundwater TDS, and (6) a well should be drilled into the Hurricane fault near Pintura.

GET IT HERE

Utah Geological Survey

POTD February 5, 2014: Hite Crossing vicinity, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Garfield and San Juan Counties, Utah

Hite Crossing vicinity, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Garfield and San Juan Counties, Utah
Photographer: Don DeBlieux; ©2011

Permian- and Triassic-age sedimentary rocks color the shorelines of dam-impounded Lake Powell near the confluence of the Colorado and Dirty Devil Rivers. Although the lake water has submerged numerous relicts of ancient animal (including human) and plant life, traces of prehistoric life can still be found along the lake shores and in some tributaries.

Utah Geological Survey

POTD February 4, 2014: Insect fossils in core retrieved from Green River Formation, Utah

Insect fossils in core retrieved from Green River Formation, Utah
Photographer: Michael Vanden Berg; © 2011

Insect fossils preserved in core retrieved from the lake-deposited Green River Formation.

Utah Geological Survey

POTD February 3, 2014: Uinta Basin, Uintah County, Utah

Uinta Basin, Uintah County, Utah
Photographer: Michael Vanden Berg

The Mahogany oil shale zone contains the highest percentage of organic material in the Green River Formation, Uinta Basin, Uintah County.

Utah Geological Survey

POTD January 31, 2014: Eastern Uinta Basin, Uintah County, Utah

Eastern Uinta Basin, Uintah County, Utah
Photographer: Michael Vanden Berg

Retrieving oil shale core from the Tertiary-age Green River Formation, eastern Uinta Basin, south of Bonanza near Evacuation Creek, Uintah County.

Utah Geological Survey

"Spot the Rock" January 30, 2014

Well we hope your January has really rocked! And on that note— it’s another great Thursday. Time for another round of “Spot the Rock”! Let us know where you think this geologic site is found.

Down and down it goes, where it stops, no body knows! Tell where this stuff flows!

Like us on FACEBOOK or follow us on TWITTER to participate in “Spot the Rock”!

UPDATE: Location Revealed
Last week’s “Spot the Rock” photo shows natural oil seeps (black) and salt (white) at Rozel Point about ½ mile southeast of the Spiral Jetty on the shore of Great Salt Lake, Box Elder County. Miocene to Pliocene (24 to 1.8 million years old) organic-rich lake sediments probably generated the oil. From these source beds, the oil migrated upward along faults and fractures to a porous basalt layer that comprises a main reservoir. Some of the oil in this basalt reservoir leaks to the surface through faults and fractures, emerging as thick, sticky, tar-like oil.

Rozel Point is one of the oldest (if not the oldest) fields to produce oil in Utah. The seeps have been known since the late 1800s and production attempts began in 1904. The field produced an estimated 10,000 barrels of oil from 30 to 50 wells, but has been inactive since the mid-1980s due to extremely difficult production, very high refining costs, and rising lake levels.