Lecture from the U.S. Geological Survey
by Jake Lowenstern, Scientist-in-Charge, Yellowstone Volcano Observatory
WATCH IT HERE
The presentation starts at about 5:30, so jump ahead if you please!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
sunews.net
Come join Dr. Alan Titus as he gives a personal introduction of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument’s newest dinosaur on Friday, February 7, at the GSENM Kanab Visitor Center starting at 7 p.m. The presentation is free and open to the public.
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.
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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