Cascade Mountain, Wasatch Range, Utah County, Utah
Photographer: Adam McKean; ©2011
The last rays of sunshine catch the snowy southern limestone cliff face of Cascade Mountain, which was glaciated on the northern side during the Ice Age. Wasatch Range, Utah County.
Little Cottonwood Canyon, Wasatch Range, Salt Lake County, Utah
Photographer: Mike Hylland; ©2011
The “”wrinkled” surface of a rock glacier on the floor of Maybird Gulch hints at the Ice Age glacial activity that carved this tributary to Little Cottonwood Canyon. Ice below the ground surface, now likely all melted away, once allowed the bouldery deposit to imperceptibly flow down the valley floor, forming the arcuate ridges at the ground surface.
Wasatch Range, Utah County, Utah
Photographer: Adam McKean; © 2011
A colorful mosaic of fall colors on Provo Peak (11,068 feet), composed of Mississippian- and Pennsylvanian-age rock layers, Wasatch Range, Utah County.
Mount Timpanogos, Wasatch Range, Utah County, Utah
Photographer: Grant Willis; ©2011
White traces of early snow dust prominent sandstone and limestone rock layers on Mount Timpanogos and contrast with lower-elevation yellow-tinted aspen trees. The sedimentary rocks are the Pennsylvanian-age Bear Canyon Member of the Oquirrh Formation that have been transported eastward over 30 miles on thrust faults.
Wasatch Range, Salt Lake County, Utah.
Photographer: Stefan Kirby
A winter storm clears from Superior Peak (11,132 feet) in upper Little Cottonwood Canyon southeast of Salt Lake City. Beneath its thick blanket of snow, Superior Peak is made up of tilted Precambrian-age sedimentary rocks, including the Big Cottonwood Formation and overlying Mineral Fork Tillite.
Little Cottonwood Canyon, Wasatch Range, Salt Lake County, Utah
Photographer: Mike Hylland
Ice Age (late Pleistocene) glaciers carved a classic U-shaped valley into granitic rock of the Oligocene-aged Little Cottonwood stock at Little Cottonwood Canyon. Across Salt Lake Valley, the Oquirrh Mountains are home to the Bingham Canyon mine, the largest open-pit copper mine in North America.
Lone Peak Wilderness, Wasatch Range, Salt Lake and Utah Counties, Utah
Photographer: J. Lucy Jordan
Wildflowers on Lone Peak bloom among quartz monzonite (granitic) boulders of the Oligocene-aged Little Cottonwood stock. Near-vertical cliffs on the skyline form part of the glacier-carved cirque near the summit of the 11,253-foot-high peak.
Wasatch Range, Morgan County, UtahPhotographer: Ashley H. Elliott
Glaciated peaks and cirques on the east side of the Wasatch Range
Mount Timpanogos, Wasatch Range, Utah County, Utah
Photographer: Jason Berry
Thousands of years of precipitation, wind, and glacial erosion have sculpted the east face of the Mount Timpanogos massif. The steep cliffs and snow-covered ledges of the Oquirrh Formation exposed on Roberts Horn (10,953 feet) are reminiscent of the Canadian Rockies.
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.
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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