Salt Creek Canyon, Canyonlands National Park, San Juan County, Utah
Photographer: Martha Hayden; © 2011
Pictographs painted about 1,000 years ago on a Permian-age Cedar Mesa Sandstone cliff face in Salt Creek Canyon, Canyonlands National Park, San Juan County.
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, San Juan County, Utah
Photographer: Don DeBlieux; © 2011
Dinosaur tracks on a block of fallen Jurassic-age Navajo Sandstone. North of the confluence of the San Juan and Colorado Rivers, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, San Juan County.
Buckhorn Wash, San Rafael Swell, Emery County, Utah
Photographer: J. Buck Ehler; ©2011
Petroglyphs etched into a Navajo Sandstone cliff, probably about 1,000 years ago in Buckhorn Wash, San Rafael Swell, Emery County.
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.
Uinta Basin, Uintah County, Utah
Photographer: Michael Vanden Berg
The exceedingly rare Graham’s penstemon grows exclusively on the sparsely vegetated outcrops of Green River Formation oil shale deposits and can be found only in the Uinta Basin of Utah and the Piceance Creek Basin in Colorado. Federal protection for this scarce plant could be forthcoming as petroleum development becomes more prevalent in the basin.
Cliff Lake, western Uinta Mountains, Summit County, Utah
Photographer: Don Clark
Cliff Lake, seen above in midday light, is located adjacent to the larger Wall Lake and near the base of Mount Watson.
Pittsburg Lake, Utah County, Utah
Photographer: Sonja Heuscher
Pittsburg Lake, a glacial tarn formed in a cirque carved into the Cambrian-age Tintic Quartzite in upper American Fork Canyon, Utah County.
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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