Here’s a rockin’ scenic view to jump start another weekend!
The Rimrocks, Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, Kane County, Utah
Photographer: Taylor Boden; © 2012
Spire-like formations called “toadstools” form where resistant sandstone boulders of Cretaceous-age Dakota Formation (toadstool caps) protect the underlying, softer, Jurassic-age Entrada Sandstone (toadstool stems) from erosion. Beneath their protective caps, the spires stand tall above the surrounding eroded landscape.
stgeorgeutah.com
Stroll through some of Southern Utah’s most bizarre formations along this 9.2 mile round-trip hike to the Wahweap Hoodoos in the vast Grand-Staircase Escalante area near Lake Powell. Mother nature’s erosive artistry has left several groups of divine pearly-white towers capped with brown mushroom-like tops nuzzled in several coves for off-the-beaten-path hikers.
The Cockscomb, Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, Kane County, Utah
Photographer: Stevie Emerson; © 2012
The Cockscomb formed along the steeply tilted sedimentary layers of a geologic feature known as the East Kaibab monocline. Faulting and erosion have shaped the tilted Jurassic and Cretaceous-age rocks into the spectacular “rooster’s comb” features seen today along Cottonwood Canyon Road.
A great read now that Spring is officially here!
stgeorgeutah.com
In a vast, desolate section of the Southern Utah desert, two magnificent natural passageways sit hidden below the surface a half-mile from each other: Peek-A-Boo and Spooky gulches. When linked together, these slot canyons make for a day hike into the depths of a desert underworld that will captivate even the most seasoned adventurer.
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.
Devils Garden, Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, Garfield County, Utah
Photographer: Ken Krahulec
Metate Arch is sculpted by weathering and differential erosion of two sandstone layers along the contact of the Gunsight Butte and overlying Cannonville Members of the Jurassic-age Entrada Sandstone. The arch is about 17 miles southeast of Escalante, just east of the Straight Cliffs.
Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, Garfield County, Utah
Photographer: Rich Emerson
Cottonwood trees in a slot canyon, Rattle-snake Bench, Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, Garfield County.
Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, Kane County, Utah
Photographer: Tyler Knudsen
Powerful and turbulent flash floods carved this convoluted slot canyon into the Jurassic-age Navajo Sandstone along Willis Creek. Differential weathering of alternating weak and more resistant sandstone layers formed the horizontal grooves etched into the canyon’s walls.
deseretnews.com
Weighing in at more than 2 tons and two dozen feet long, a new species of dinosaur related to Tyrannosaurus rex was fierce enough to be dubbed “King of Gore.” The discovery of “Lythronax argestes” at the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah was announced Wednesday at the Natural History Museum of Utah and coincides with the publication of a study in PLoS ONE, an open access scientific journal.
sciencedaily.com
A remarkable new species of tyrannosaur has been unearthed in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM), southern Utah. The huge carnivore inhabited Laramidia, a landmass formed on the western coast of a shallow sea that flooded the central region of North America, isolating western and eastern portions of the continent for millions of years during the Late Cretaceous Period, between 95-70 million years ago. The newly discovered dinosaur, belonging to the same evolutionary branch as the famous Tyrannosaurus rex, was announced today in the open-access scientific journal PLOS ONE and unveiled on exhibit in the Past Worlds Gallery at the Natural History Museum of Utah at the Rio Tinto Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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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