The “Tower of Silence” along Wahweap Creek, Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, Kane County, Utah
Photographer: Gregg Beukelman; © 2013
Boulders of Cretaceous-age Dakota Sandstone act as protective caps and inhibit erosion of the soft Jurassic-age Entrada Sandstone beneath, allowing hoodoo spires to form. Water cascading over the Entrada Sandstone during rainstorms has carved an intricate network of rills.
Long Canyon viewed from Pucker Pass, Grand County, Utah
Photographer: Gregg Beukelman; © 2013
At Long Canyon, stream erosion has carved a deep gorge into the east limb of the Cane Creek anticline. The canyon exposes dark-brown Triassic-age shale and sandstone of the Moenkopi and Chinle Formations capped by vertical cliffs of Triassic and Jurassic-age sandstone of the Wingate and Kayenta Formations.
We hope you’ve all had a great weekend! Here’s another stunning photo of Utah geology to start the week out.
Pahvant Butte, Millard County, Utah
Photographer: Mark Gwynn; © 2012
Little Wild Horse Canyon, Emery County, Utah
Photographer: Gregg Beukelman; © 2012
Navajo Sandstone in Little Wild Horse Canyon, Emery County.
Happy Thursday, everybody! This beautiful photo was taken somewhere in Utah. Can anybody “Spot the Rock” and tell us where it is?
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UPDATE: Location Revealed
Last week’s “Spot the Rock” is of Water Canyon, just north of Hildale, Utah, in Washington County. This image shows the contact between the Navajo Sandstone and the Kayenta formation. Slot canyons in the southwest corner of the state often begin to dramatically widen as the river or stream cuts through the softer units of the Kayenta Formation, undercutting the harder Navajo walls.
Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah
Photographer: Mike Hylland; © 2012
Arch Alcove, Zion National Park, Washington County.
Recently 14 UGS staff embarked on our annual Administrative Professionals’ Day field trip. This year we went to Diamond Fork Hot Springs (a.k.a. Fifth Water) north of Spanish Fork Canyon in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. Diamond Fork Hot Springs is located at the end of a 2.5 mile one-way hike, 700-foot elevation gain, up a scenic, forested canyon. The weather was perfect and the water pleasant and invigorating. Diamond Fork has long been hailed as the most picturesque in Utah. The hot springs emerge streamside in multiple locations below and above a couple of waterfalls. Several pools have been nicely constructed with cement and rocks (North Horn Formation). The spring water issuing from the ground is a little too hot for bathing; one seep was measured at 123˚F, so the pools just downstream from the seeps mix with the much colder stream water to produce the ideal soaking temperature, with pools ranging between 98 to 109˚F. Some of the seeps can be identified by the thermophilic (heat loving) organisms such as bacteria and archaea that color the stream cobbles a vibrant orange-red.
Click HERE for directions to Diamond Fork Hot Springs
San Rafael Swell, Emery County, Utah
Photographer: Stephanie Earls; © 2012
Draw rock art panel, San Rafael Swell, Emery County.
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There is no doubt that Delicate Arch is the most iconic image for Utah. Because of the dominance of that giant red inverted sandstone horseshoe, some visitors to Arches National Park miss the Devil’s Garden trail — a section of the park that offers much more scenic hiking and a plethora of unique arches.
space.io9.com
Before the movie or even the book, the United States dedicated a park specifically to Jurassic dinosaurs. Dinosaur National Monument straddles the border between Colorado and Utah, a national park stuffed to the canyons with fossils from dinosaurs that roamed long 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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