Tag Archive for: UGS

Utah Geological Survey
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New Publications M-261DM and OFR-605

Geologic map of the Johnson Lakes quadrangle, Kane County, Utah, and Coconino County, Arizona,

By: Janice M. Hayden

The Johnson Lakes quadrangle includes parts of the Chocolate (Shinarump) and Vermilion Cliff steps of the Grand Staircase in the southwest part of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Reddish-brown Lower Jurassic strata of the Vermilion Cliffs dominate the map area. Overall, strata dip gently to the northwest. They are cut by the Paunsaugunt fault at the east edge of the map area, and by several minor, mostly down-to-the-west normal faults. A variety of surficial deposits locally conceal bedrock, including broad alluvial and eolian surfaces deeply incised by modern arroyos. “Picture stone” from the Shinarump Conglomerate Member of the Chinle Formation is quarried locally.

This CD contains geographic information system (GIS) files in ESRI file geodatabase and shapefile formats. Also included are two plates-the geologic map at 1:24,000 and the explanation sheet-both in PDF format. The latest version of Adobe Reader is required to view the PDF files. Specialized GIS software is required to use the GIS files.


M-261DM……………………………….$24.95

BUY IT HERE
Hydrogeochemistry, geothermometry, and structural setting of Thermal Springs in northern Utah and southeastern Idaho,

By:Brennan Young, Katherine, Shervais, Moises Ponce-Zepeda, Sari Rosove, James Evans

This CD contains a 29-page report conducted by undergraduate researchers at Utah State University during 2010 and 2011 under the direction of Dr. James P. Evans. It includes data collected from hot springs in northern Utah and southeastern Idaho, including location, temperature, acidity, salinity, cation concentrations, and maximum reservoir temperature estimates acquired through the application of several cation geothermometers.


OFR-605…………………………………..$14.95

BUY IT HERE

 



Utah Geological Survey

POTD August 28, 2013: Notch Peak National Natural Landmark, House Range, Millard County, Utah

Notch Peak National Natural Landmark, House Range, Millard County, Utah
Photographer: Matt Affolter

Cambrian- to Ordovician-aged carbonate rocks (limestone and dolomite) make up Notch Peak, where a 2,200-foot cliff (possibly the tallest carbonate cliff in North America) leads to a deep canyon on the west side of the peak. Pink, Jurassic-aged granite is exposed at the foot of the mountain, and scattered deposits of white, clayey marl deposited in Lake Bonneville during the late Pleistocene are present on the valley floor.

Utah Geological Survey
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POTD August 27, 2013: Dinosaur Tracks near Moab, Grand County, Utah

Near Moab, Grand County, Utah
Photographer: Carole McCalla

During Jurassic time, a sauropod walked across mud, sinking deeply into it. The footprints can be seen preserved in the rock near Moab in Grand County. BLM interpretive site.

Utah Geological Survey

Mudslide damages Alpine home; more flooding possible

heraldextra.com

Torrential rains caused a major mudslide in Alpine just before midnight on Thursday, putting 18 inches of mud into the basement of one home. Kaitlyn Dix was home alone around 11:30 p.m. on Thursday when tragedy was compounded by hardship. She had just gotten a call from her mother, Dixie Dix, saying that her grandmother had died. Within five minutes, the mudslide swept through the yard, breaking through a bathroom window and inundating the basement. Firefighters arrived on the doorstep just as her sister, Nicole, arrived home from a concert, and the women were told they had “30 seconds” to evacuate. They spent the night at a neighbor’s home.

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Utah Geological Survey
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POTD August 26, 2013: Hanksville-Burpee Quarry, Wayne County, Utah

Hanksville-Burpee Quarry, Wayne County, Utah
Photographer: James I. Kirkland

Not a logjam, but a “legjam” of dinosaur bones left in a channel of Jurassic-aged river is being excavated at the Hanksville-Burpee Quarry in Wayne County. BLM interpretive site.

Utah Geological Survey

POTD August 23, 2013: Poison Strip area, east of Arches National Park, Grand County, Utah

Poison Strip area, east of Arches National Park, Grand County, Utah
Photographer: Don DeBlieux

A geologist examines a sequence of Early Cretaceous-aged paleosols (ancient soils) in the Yellow Cat Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation. Many dinosaur fossils are found in these rocks, and the study of paleosols can provide valuable
information about the environments in which these dinosaurs lived.

Utah Geological Survey

Misplaced Piece of the Cretaceous Returns to Utah, August 2013

Utah State Paleontologist, Jim Kirkland, is happily reunited with this unique (the first fully intact) shark coprolite from the Cedar Mountain Formation.

In August, the UGS received an important piece of Utah history in the form of an Early Cretaceous coprolite.  A coprolite is a fossil feces; and in this example a fully intact feces from an Early Cretaceous fresh water spiny (hybodont) shark. Although discovered in the early 1990s, the fossil had been missing for about 20 years.

The discovery goes back to when Utahraptor had first been discovered; I was exploring the outcrops of the upper Yellow Cat Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation with geologist Dan Howe (Howe Resources, Buena Vista, CO) who picked up an unusual blob of rock that included fish scales within it. Fragments of such things were not uncommonly found in this interval throughout the area and were an important line of evidence that these rocks had been deposited in a lake. A spiral, layered structure indicated these lumps were coprolites from a fish with a spiral intestine (spiral valve). Of the fish known from these beds only lungfish and hybodont sharks had spiral intestines and only hybodont shark coprolites were apt to consistently include fish scales within them. However, this was, and still is, the only complete example of this kind of fossil known from these rocks. Later, I called Dan and asked him where the fossil was and he assured me he had given it to me. After an intensive search through all my sample bags, it did not turn up. So, I assumed I had stupidly put it down and walked off without it.

A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from Dan who had stumbled across it going through some boxes (he had moved his life a few times across three states).  Dan quickly sent it back over to Utah.

While, future scientific studies of these coprolites can be carried out on the many fragmentary specimens, this remains the sole specimen for which the complete external morphology can be appraised. This specimen will be added to the Natural History Museum of Utah’s collections, where it may be examined by students and researchers in perpetuity.

Yellow Cat Road Section with Hybodont Shark level indicated.

Utah Geological Survey

POTD August 22, 2013: Bluffs above Wahweap Bay on Lake Powell, Kane County, Utah

Bluffs of Entrada Sandstone above Wahweap Bay on Lake Powell, Kane County, Utah
Photographer: Lance Weaver

One of the most photographed geologic formations in Utah if not the world, the Entrada Sandstone is the featured rock unit of Arches National Park, Goblin Valley State Park, Kodachrome Basin State Park, and parts of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Variations in the Entrada’s appearance across the state are due to differences in internal structure and composition as well as external stresses.

Utah Geological Survey

POTD August 21, 2013: Kodachrome Basin State Park, Kane County, Utah

Kodachrome Basin State Park, Kane County, Utah
Photographer: Carole McCalla

Sand pipe of Carmel Formation sediment intruded into the overlying Entrada Sandstone. One of the most photographed geologic formations in Utah if not the world, the Entrada Sandstone is the featured rock unit of Arches National Park, Goblin Valley State Park, Kodachrome Basin State Park, and parts of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Variations in the Entrada’s appearance across the state are due to differences in internal structure and composition as well as external stresses.

Utah Geological Survey

POTD August 20, 2013: Temple of the Sun, Capitol Reef National Park, Wayne County, Utah

Temple of the Sun, Capitol Reef National Park, Wayne County, Utah
Photographer: Michael Vanden Berg

Two of Capitol Reef National Park’s popular attractions: Glass Mountain (foreground) and Temple of the Sun (background). Glass Mountain is a large exposed mound of selenite gypsum that formed within the Jurassic-aged Entrada Sandstone. The “gypsum plug” became exposed as the relatively soft Entrada Sandstone eroded away. Temple of the Sun is a large monolith that was also created by erosion of the Entrada Sandstone.