Bryce Canyon National Park, Garfield County, Utah
Photographer: William Lund
The Pink Cliffs (Eocene-age Claron Formation) form the uppermost step of southwestern Utah’s spectacular Grand Staircase.
Tag Archive for: Utah Geology
nationalgeographic.com
A little more than a year ago, in the corner of a Salt Lake City tattoo parlor spattered with sci-fi ephemera and fantasy art, I watched as artist Jon McAffee inked an Allosaurus onto my arm. The bloody art was a celebration of a dream realized and a promise to myself.
The giant, sauropod-rending theropod Allosaurus is the state fossil of Utah, and a symbol of why I transplanted myself to the state. I moved west for the dinosaurs. But the tattoo represents more than that. I’m not content only writing about dinosaurs. I need to seek them out; to dig them from their resting places and contribute something to our understanding of prehistory. Allosaurus – the most common terror of 150 million year old Utah – was at the top of the list of the dinosaurs I wanted to meet among the badlands.
fox13now.com
A massive rockslide closed part of Dinosaur National Monument.
The National Park Service says the slide is still active and rocks have been falling since Tuesday.
NPS says that on Tuesday, fishermen reported large boulders falling in the area. Park rangers investigated, but found no further activity.
OTHER LINKS
sltrib.com
deseretnews.com
Arches National Park, Grand County
Photographer: William Lund
Delicate Arch is formed of Jurassic-age sandstone—the Slick Rock Member of the Entrada Sandstone (base and pedestals) and Moab Member of the Curtis Formation (bridge). With a horizontal span of 32 feet and a vertical span of 46 feet, Delicate Arch is small compared to many other natural arches, but its free-standing nature makes it unique in the world and emblematic of Utah’s spectacular red-rock geology.
Big Cottonwood Canyon, Wasatch Range, Salt Lake County
Photographer: Liz Paton
On the east slope of Mt. Millicent (10,452 feet), Lake Mary occupies part of a basin carved by Ice Age glaciers. The surrounding peaks are composed of granitic rock of the Tertiary-age Alta stock.
Bakken Breakout
From the highway, Utah’s Uinta Basin has some striking similarities to oil producing areas in North Dakota – namely, there’s an abundance of new oil wells.
The evening view from a hill called Blue Bench is evidence. Lights from oil rigs and wells are scattered across an uneven topography. Once, that land seemed empty of everything but juniper tress, sage brush and sandstone.
A glacial end (terminal) moraine in Pine Creek Valley, Wasatch Mountain State Park.
This Saturday Utah Geological Survey geologist Jim Davis and Utah State Parks naturalist Kathy Donnell led a leisurely hike up to Wilson Peak in Wasatch Mountain State Park for Utah State University students enrolled in the course “Utah Master Naturalist.” The Utah Master Naturalist Program is a three credit certification course open to anyone who is interested in learning more about Utah’s natural world. The topics for the Wilson Peak hike, part of the “mountains” section of the course, included the Wasatch Mountain’s geologic history, alpine glaciation and glacial landforms, the ice ages, and identification of rocks such as the Tertiary Pine Creek and Valeo volcanic stocks that are granodiorites, the Cambrian Tintic Quartzite, and the Precambrian Mineral Fork Tillite.
Utah Master Naturalist Program, Utah State University
Head of Sinbad, San Rafael Swell, Emery County
Photographer: J. Buck Ehler
Dutchman Arch guards the path to Devil’s Racetrack, a popular recreation trail in the San Rafael Swell. Named after a local Dutch cattleman, the arch is composed of the Jurassic-age Wingate Sandstone deposited in ancient sand dunes.
Little Cottonwood Canyon, Wasatch Range, Salt Lake County
Photographer: Valerie V. Davis
Viewed across Albion Basin from the Secret Lake trail, the southfacing slopes of the Flagstaff Mountain area reveal tilted Cambrian- to Pennsylvanian- age strata. The deformation of these rocks attests to the severe folding, faulting, and tilting undergone by this mountain range.
nationalgeographic.com
I’ve never been to Mars, but I’ve been close. From my Salt Lake City home, the journey takes a relatively scant four and a half hours – through the smoggy sprawl of the valley and over lonely highways pocked here and there by small Utah farming towns before reaching the tourist-dependent outpost of Hanksville. I wonder how many people speed along the main drag, on their way to see the imposing geology of Capitol Reef National Park or make the spirit of Edward Abbey cringe by boating over Lake Powell, without ever realizing what lies up a unremarkable dirt road just a few miles outside of town.
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.
