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.
deseretnews.com
An Estonia company that claims it has perfected turning oil shale into fuel oil during the past 30 years wants to mine rock from a remote region of the Uintah Basin, tapping 2.6 billion barrels of oil in the decades to come.
That staggering production, 50,000 barrels of oil per day, would represent one-third of Utah’s liquid fuel consumption and is touted to emerge from a processing and refining plant that would put power back into the energy grid.
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aapg.org
Geologic intervals that may have looked a bit ho-hum when pierced by the drill bit on its way to the Real Target can, on second look, yield some pleasant surprises.
The Uteland Butte Member of the Eocene Green River Formation in the Uinta Basin in Utah is one of these.
It’s the basal member of the Green River, above the Upper Paleocene to Lower Eocene Wasatch Formation, which is predominantly a sandstone with red, green and gray shales deposited in a fluvial setting.
In contrast, the Uteland Butte is indicative of a lacustrine environment and is mainly limestone, dolomite, organic rich calcareous mudstone and siltstone, with some thin sandstones, according to AAPG member Michael Vanden Berg.
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.
Cretaceous Mancos Shale, Uinta Basin, Utah
A research team from the Utah Geological Survey and the University of Utah presented the results of their on-going work in the Uinta Basin to members of the petroleum industry recently. Meeting in Denver on June 28, the UGS and university geologists discussed their research on the oil and gas potential of the Cretaceous Mancos Shale, which lies several thousand feet below the surface in most of the Basin. Although oil and gas from shale have made energy headlines in many states, production from the Mancos will be a challenge, due in part to its thickness compared to other U.S. shale plays. About 20 geologists and engineers representing 10 companies with interests in the Uinta Basin attended the meeting. The research is being funded by the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America, through a contract from the U.S. Department of Energy.
See http://geology.utah.gov/emp/shalegas/cret_shalegas/index.htm for more information about the project.
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.
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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