Did everyone have a great weekend? Maybe some of you got out into Utah’s National Parks. Canyonlands National Park is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Check out this article showing an aerial photo from space of the park’s grabens that run along the Colorado River, along with other geological highlights.
news.yahoo.com
Parallel valleys called grabens stand out in a new satellite image of Canyonlands National Park in Utah.
Waterpocket Fold, Capitol Reef National Park, Garfield County, Utah
Photographer: Adam Hiscock; © 2013
stgeorgeutah.com
The Bureau of Land Management-Utah Henry Mountain Field Station is partnering with the Burpee Museum of Rockford, Illinois, to conduct free guided tours at the Hanksville-Burpee Dinosaur Quarry. Daily tours for the public began May 29 and continue through June 7. No tours will be offered on Sunday, June 1.
Can anyone “Spot the Rock” this week? This photo shows one of the many textures present in Utah’s geology. Tell us where you think this is!
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UPDATE: Location Revealed
The Honeycombs, or Honeycomb Hills, is a solitary cluster of hills far out in Utah’s West Desert between the Fish Springs and Deep Creek Ranges. The hills are a product of a violent volcanic eruption some 4.7 million years ago, where forty feet of tuff underlies a 200 million cubic yard dome of topaz-rich rhyolite. The Honeycombs gets its name from the texture of the rock; a recurrent pattern of alcoves, hollows and cubbies, called tafoni, created from a weathering process known as honeycomb, cavernous, or alveolar weathering. This type of weathering is most common to seacoasts and deserts in sandstones and granites on inclined or vertical rock faces. Salt weathering has been implicated in forming tafoni, as well as many other physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms. The weathering of rock into tafoni can occur rapidly, as seen on seawalls built only centuries ago.
Mary Ellen Gulch, American Fork Canyon, Utah County, Utah
Photographer: Tyler Knudsen; © 2013
Quartzite of the 900 million-year-old Big Cottonwood Formation holds up the rugged headwall of Mary Ellen Gulch. Well-preserved ripple marks and mud cracks indicate the Big Cottonwood Formation was deposited in the tidal zone of a shallow sea.
Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah
Photographer: Ken Krahulec; © 2013
Towering cliffs of Jurassic-age sandstone constrict lower Zion Canyon. The prominently cross-bedded Navajo Sandstone, deposited in a vast dune field comparable to that of the modern-day Sahara, forms the cliffs, including the narrow spine of Angels Landing at left.
Happy Memorial Day!
Great Salt Lake viewed from Antelope Island, Davis County, Utah
Photographer: Chris DuRoss; © 2013
Great Salt Lake occupies a large basin formed by horizontal stretching of the Earth’s crust across the region. This stretching produces movement on faults, resulting in uplift of mountain ranges adjacent to the
basins and occasional magnitude 6.5–7.5 earthquakes.
Here’s a photo to help you get back into the swing of things. We hope everyone had a great weekend!
Wendover, Box Elder County, Utah
Photographer: Gregg Beukelman; © 2013
Jurassic-age quartz monzonite at Crater Island near Wendover, Box Elder County.
Red Canyon, San Juan County, Utah
Photographer: Don DeBlieux; © 2013
Wingate Sandstone cliffs at Red Canyon, east of Lake Powell, San Juan County.
The “Tower of Silence” along Wahweap Creek, Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, Kane County, Utah
Photographer: Gregg Beukelman; © 2013
Boulders of Cretaceous-age Dakota Sandstone act as protective caps and inhibit erosion of the soft Jurassic-age Entrada Sandstone beneath, allowing hoodoo spires to form. Water cascading over the Entrada Sandstone during rainstorms has carved an intricate network of rills.
The Utah Geological Survey (UGS) is a division of the Utah Department of Natural Resources. Several specialized programs comprise the UGS: Data Management, Energy & Minerals, Geologic Hazards, Geologic Information & Outreach, Geologic Mapping, Groundwater & Wetlands, and Paleontology.
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