Tag Archive for: Survey Notes
Current Issue Contents:
• The Uinta Mountains: A Tale of Two Geographies
• In Memoriam: Lehi F. Hintze
• Students Fill the GIS Gap
• The 2014 Crawford Award
• GeoSights: Roosevelt Hot Springs Geothermal Area, Beaver County
• New Publications
• Teacher’s Corner
• Core Center News
• Glad You Asked: What are keeper potholes & how are they formed?
What in the world is a gooseneck? When it comes to describing a landform, fowl play (pun intended) may seem apparent. Even when you are standing in front of one, the answer is not obvious. Not until you get a look from above does this name start to make sense.
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Current Issue Contents:
- Microbial Carbonate Reservoirs and the Utah Geological Survey’s “Invasion” of London
- Utah Still Supplying Gilsonite to the World After 125 Years
- Frack Sand in Utah?
- Energy News
- GeoSights: St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson’s Farm, Washington County
- Glad You Asked: How can sedimentary rocks tell you about Utah’s history?
- Teacher’s Corner
- Survey News
- New Publications
Current Issue Contents:
- Damaging Debris Flows Prompt Landslide Inventory Mapping for the 2012 Seely Fire, Carbon and Emery Counties, Utah
- Rock Fall: An Increasing Hazard in Urbanizing Southwestern Utah
- New Geologic Data Resources for Utah
- Energy News
- Teacher’s Corner
- Glad You Asked: Where is the Coolest Spot in Utah?
- GeoSights: The Goosenecks of the San Juan River, San Juan County, Utah
- Survey News
- New Publications
One may say Comb Ridge was Mother Nature’s way of splitting southern San Juan County with an enormous
wall. Another may say it was a giant skateboard ramp for dinosaurs. One thing is certain: Comb Ridge is a spectacular
ridge of steeply tilted sandstone rock layers, trending north-south for approximately 80 miles from Utah’s Abajo Mountains to Kayenta, Arizona. Similar to a rooster’s comb, the jagged appearance of Comb Ridge provides the logic behind its name.
The enormity and vastness of the cliff forming the north face of Notch Peak is difficult to describe. Standing near the cliff’s base and looking up is awe inspiring. The view while standing at the top and looking over the edge? I would not know as I was on my hands and knees, too fearful to stand and look over the edge at one of the greatest vertical drops in the contiguous U.S.
Reported estimates of the cliff’s actual height vary significantly from under 2,000 feet to over 4,500 feet, which is likely due to differences in defining where the base of the cliff starts. Photogrammetry (measurements from digital stereoscopic photographs), verified with a paper 7.5′ topographic map, suggests the cliff has an uninterrupted near-vertical drop of over 1,500feet. The addition of cliff below a small bench 50 to 100 yards wide increases the distance to approximately 2,250 feet. Adding a portion of the very steep base of the sheer drop increases the distance to nearly 2,900 feet.
This Issue contains:
- Northwest Utah—Could it be Utah’s Newest Energy Hotspot?
- What is a Metamorphic Core Complex?
- Every Record Must Fall—An Update on the Largest Arches in the World
- Energy News: Utah’s Gordon Creek Field to Test Commercial-Scale Storage of
- Carbon Dioxide
- Glad You Asked: Is There Coral in Great Salt Lake?
- GeoSights: The Honeycombs Juab County, Utah
- Survey News
- Teacher’s Corner
- New Publications
It sounds like a bad joke: What has 29 Bars, 69 Devils, and 13 Heavens? Utah does. Those are part of the names of geographic features found throughout the state. The topic of interesting names was recently tackled by the Utah Geological Survey (UGS) in its “Glad You Asked” section of Survey Notes.
“Utah has more bars than Arizona, Nevada and Wyoming combined,” said Mark Milligan, a UGS geologist. Bars, in this case, are elongated ridges of sand, gravel or other sediment.
Utah beats other states by having ‘Wife’ in the name of two locations. Utah’s 69 Devils are trumped by God and Jesus, which total 1,163 combined. However, Hell is found 55 times, but Heaven only 13.
There are 104 ‘Strange’ names and 311 ‘Odd’ names in the United States, but surprisingly none are in the Utah. But Utah is swell having one of only 12 ‘Swell’ places across the U.S.
IN THE MEDIA
This Issue Contains:
- Land Subsidence and Earth Fissures in Cedar Valley
- Updated Landslide Maps of Utah
- GPS Monitoring of Slow-Moving Landslides
- Liquefaction in the April 15, 2010, M 4.5 Randolph Earthquake
- Glad You Asked: What are the Roots of Geobotany?
- Teacher’s Corner
- GeoSights: Devils Kitchen, Juab County, Utah
- Survey News
- Energy News: Energy Office in Transition
- New Publications
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE UTAH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
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.
QUICK LINKS
CONTACT INFORMATION
1594 West North Temple, Suite 3110
Salt Lake City, Utah 84116
801-537-3300 (phone)
801-537-3400 (fax)
Mailing Address:
PO BOX 146100
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114
HOURS
Monday through Friday,
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
