Dixie National Forest, Kane County, Utah
Photographer: Tyler Knudsen
Golden aspen, blue sky, and dark basaltic lava provide dramatic contrast along the Navajo Lake Loop Trail on the Markagunt Plateau. The geologically young Quaternaryage lava erupted from a nearby cinder cone and flowed across Duck Creek, creating a natural dam that formed Navajo Lake.
Navajo Indian Reservation, San Juan County, Utah
Photographer: Phil Powlick
The wind has formed ripples on the surface of a dune in Monument Valley along the Utah-Arizona border.
Kolob Canyons, Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah
Photographer: Michael Vanden Berg
Jurassic-age Navajo Sandstone forms the massive red cliffs of the often-overlooked Kolob Canyons area of Zion National Park. Hanging valleys are present where relatively small tributary streams have eroded downward at a slower rate than the larger trunk stream.
Rose Canyon, Salt Lake County, Utah.
Photographer: Michael Vanden Berg
Step Mountain is aptly named for several resistant Tertiary-age andesite dikes that display exceptional horizontal columnar joints.
Wasatch Range, Utah & Wasatch Counties, Utah
Photographer: Robert F. Biek
Framed by blooming gray rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus) above the east shore of Deer Creek Reservoir, Mt. Timpanogos is formed of Pennsylvanian-age, shallow- marine limestone and sandstone of the Oquirrh Formation. The small patch of snow is in Cascade Cirque, one of several glacier-carved basins on the east side of the 11,749-foot-tall mountain.
East of the Green River, Grand County, Utah.
Photographer: Don DeBlieux
A summer evening arrives with the promise of cooler temperatures at the UGS paleontology camp near the Crystal Geyser Dinosaur Quarry.
Capitol Reef National Park, Garfield County, Utah
Photographer: Paul Kuehne
The Waterpocket Fold affords a wonderful view of the geology of Grand Gulch. The Entrada Sandstone (reddish-orange rock on the right) and Navajo Sandstone (pale-orange rock on the left and middle distance) were formed in a desert environment beginning about 185 million years ago in the Jurassic Period.
Dollar Lake, High Uintas Wilderness, Duchesne County, Utah
Photographer: Mike Hylland
To the south of Dollar Lake in the Uinta Mountains, cliffs of Precambrian-age sedimentary strata rise abruptly at the head of the Henrys Fork basin. The leftmost peak lit by the morning sun is Utah’s highest mountain, Kings Peak (13,528 feet), which was named for Clarence King, first director of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Dugway Proving Ground, Tooele County, Utah.
Photographer: Don Clark
Locally known as Devils Postpile, this andesite intrusion in the southern Cedar Mountains displays well developed columnar cooling joints.
Southeast of Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah
Photographer: Michael Vanden Berg
The White Pine rock slide covers the floor of Little Cottonwood Canyon with boulders of granitic rock of the Tertiary-age Little Cottonwood stock. These rocks broke loose from the north side of the glacially-carved canyon several thousand years ago.
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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