Geology Archives - Page 10 of 15

November 28, 2013June 27, 2016

Rock Climbing

Photo Courtesy Wikimedia, Bob Protus (katsrcool) Photographer — Rock Climbing
on Potash Road, Moab, UT
Courtesy Wikimedia & Bob Protus (katsrcool), Photographer

Hi, this is Justin Lofthouse from the USU Natural Resource Interpretation Class.

Many might think that rock climbing results from a quest for adrenaline and danger. On the contrary, most rock climbers strive for a calm and controlled state of mind. Many participate in rock climbing for reasons such as solitude, adventure, self-exploration, pushing physical limits and accomplishment. The explosion of the number of people participating in rock climbing over the last decade has altered how many obtain these benefits.

As more and more people are climbing in Utah, it has become harder to find solitude and adventure. This increase in numbers has led to Federal land managers taking a closer look at the impacts caused by overuse. A strong wilderness ethic is vital to the future access of climbing areas.

In a recent poll on mountainproject.com, the question was asked, “What are the top 10, best climbing states?” Among the replies, Utah is almost always among the top three. Canyons such as American Fork, Logan, Maple, Little and Big Cottonwood make northern Utah a top competitor. These steep technical faces offer difficult, continuous routes that push the physical realm of the sport. When southern Utah is thrown into the mix, Utah truly stands out as a gem. Places like Zion, Indian Creek, Moab, and St. George have parallel-sided cracks that split sandstone walls for hundreds of feet. These remote desert regions offer a feeling of adventure and solitude that many areas in the U.S. lack. These qualities have put Utah high on the list as a must-visit climbing destination.

Gone are the days when you and your partner were the only people climbing in an area on a weekend. As information about the amazing climbing in Utah has become readily available, people have come by hordes to explore what Utah has to offer. Although rock climbers will have to find new ways to share such a unique resource, no one is doubting that Utah truly has something special to offer when it comes to rock climbing. It will take a concentrated effort on the part of all climbers to help maintain such a wonderful resource for future generations of climbers.

For Wild About Utah, I’m Justin Lofthouse.

Credits:
Image: Courtesy Wikimedia, Bob Protus (katsrcool) Photographer, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Generic 2.0
Text: Justin Lofthouse

Sources and Additional Reading

Climbing and Canyoneering, Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior,
https://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/st__george/recreation/rock_climbing.html

Rock Climbing, Capital Reef National Park, National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/care/planyourvisit/rockclimbing.htm

November 21, 2013July 25, 2023

Utah is Worth its Salt

Bonneville Salt Flats as seen from Interstate 80 in Utah, USA — Bonneville Salt Flats
as seen from Interstate 80
East of Wendover, UT
Courtesy Wikimedia
Hermann Luyken, Photographer
Image licensed through
Creative Commons
CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

Salt Production
Solar Evaporation
Courtesy Morton Salt, Inc.

Sevier Lake
Courtesy & Copyright 2013
Holly Strand, Photographer

Salt Crystal
Minerals and Materials Photo Gallery
U.S House Subcommittee
on Energy and Natural Resources

Salt Production, Solar Evaporation, Courtesy Morton Salt, Inc. — Bonneville Salt Flats
as seen from Interstate 80
East of Wendover, UT
Courtesy Wikimedia
Hermann Luyken, Photographer
Image licensed through
Creative Commons
CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

Salt Production
Solar Evaporation
Courtesy Morton Salt, Inc.

Sevier Lake
Courtesy & Copyright 2013
Holly Strand, Photographer

Salt Crystal
Minerals and Materials Photo Gallery
U.S House Subcommittee
on Energy and Natural Resources

Hi, I’m Holly Strand from the Quinney College of Natural Resources at Utah State University.

Throughout history, salt has held enormous significance for human society. And not just because it makes food taste better. Salt is a biological necessity. The human body needs a small but regular supply of sodium to maintain a balance of body fluids, keep muscles and nerves running smoothly and help certain organs work properly.

Thousands of years ago, salt was discovered to have another vital function– as a food preservative. This discovery quickly transformed the human lifestyle. For if people could preserve their food, they no longer had to depend upon the seasonal availability of food. Further, preservation allowed people to travel over long distances with a portable food supply.

Because of its central importance to health and human welfare, salt acquired some interesting forms of cultural significance as well. For instance, spilling salt is a bad omen. But you can mitigate by throwing the spilled salt over your left shoulder into the eyes of the Devil that lurks there. In many places salt was used as money. The English word “salary” comes from the Latin phrase salarium argentum, or “salt money,” which was paid to Roman soldiers.

Before the evolution of modern geology and extraction techniques, salt was difficult to find and to remove. The limited supply led to increased demand. In Salt: A World History author Mark Kurlansky described how salt demand spawned extensive trade routes, alliances, and even empires. Salt taxes were a common source of government income as well as a cause for revolt.

Here in Utah, it’s hard to imagine getting worked up about salt supply. There’s just so much of it lying around. That’s because as the 20,000 square miles of water that was Lake Bonneville evaporated, salt was precipitated all over the dried up lake bed.

The Great Salt Lake itself contains about 4.5 billion tons of salt. Currently 3 corporations extract salt using over 80000 acres of solar evaporation ponds near the lake. They produce over 2 millions tons of salt per year. This roughly equals the amount of salt flowing into the lake. For the Bear, Weber and Jordan Rivers add about 2.2 million tons of salt annually.

Utah and nearby states use the Great Salt Lake salt for de-icing roadways. Some of the salt is pressed into pellets for water softeners. Ranchers get salt-lick blocks for their livestock. And huge quantities of bulk salt are used in metal, chemical, paper and other industries.

Food grade or table salt is not produced from the Great Salt Lake area. However Redmond Minerals Inc. produces table salt in Sevier County.

For Wild About Utah, I’m Holly Strand.

Credits:
Image: Courtesy Wikimedia, Hermann Luyken, Photographer, Image licensed through Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication
Image: Courtesy & Copyright Morton Salt, Inc.
Image: Sevier Lake, Courtesy & Copyright 2013 Holly Strand
Image: Courtesy U.S House Subcommittee on Energy and Natural Resources, Public Domain
Text: Holly Strand

Sources & Additional Reading

Wild About Utah pieces authored by Holly Strand

Freeman, Shanna. 2007. “How Salt Works” HowStuffWorks.com. https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/salt.htm

Gwynn, Mark, Ken Krahulec, and Michael Vanden Berg. Utah Mining 2010, Utah Geological Survey of Utah Department of Natural Resources, https://ugspub.nr.utah.gov/publications/circular/c-114.pdf Circular 114

Gwynn, J. Wallace, ed. Great Salt Lake: an overview of change. 2002. DNR Special Publication. Utah Geological Survey of Utah Department of Natural Resources. formerly at: https://wildlife.utah.gov/gsl/gsl_cmp_resource_doc/10minerals.pdf

Kurlansky, Mark. 2003. Salt: A World History. London: Penguin Books. https://www.amazon.com/Salt-World-History-Mark-Kurlansky/dp/0142001619

Salt Institute. A non-profit trade association dedicated to advocating the many benefits of salt. https://www.saltinstitute.org/ [Dissolved March 2019]

Stephens, Doyle W. and Joe Gardner USGS. Great Salt Lake, Utah https://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/wri994189/PDF/WRI99-4189.pdf

USDA. Sodium in Your Diet: Using the Nutrition Facts Label to Reduce Your Intake. https://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm315393.htm.

July 25, 2013July 18, 2022

Oolites

Click to view larger image of the Utah's Oolitic Sand, Photo Courtesy and Copyright Mark Larese-Casanova — Utah’s Oolitic Sand, Photo Courtesy and Copyright Mark Larese-Casanova

Hi, this is Mark Larese-Casanova from the Utah Master Naturalist Program at Utah State University Extension.

Imagine if prehistoric brine shrimp were responsible for one of the finest examples of architecture in Salt Lake City today.

Okay, so it may be a bit of a stretch, but let me explain. In a previous episode of Wild About Utah, I discussed the life cycle of brine shrimp and the important role that they play in the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem. Well, as the billions of brine shrimp feed on bacteria in Great Salt Lake, they excrete waste in the form of tiny fecal pellets. These pellets, along with sand grains and other bits of debris, eventually settle to the bottom of Great Salt Lake.

In shallow areas of the lake, where wind and waves routinely mix the water, these small particles gradually accumulate layers of calcium carbonate, forming an oolite (spelled o-o-l-i-t-e). This is very similar to how a pearl, also layers of calcium carbonate around a small particle, is formed within the shell of an oyster or mussel. The main difference, aside from a pearl being much larger, is that oolites are typically oblong, rather than round. The beaches on the west side of Antelope Island are a great place to find oolitic sand, which will look and feel as though you have a handful of tiny pearls.

Click to view larger image of the Utah's Oolitic Sandstone, Photo Courtesy and Copyright Mark Larese-Casanova — Utah’s Oolitic Sandstone
Photo Courtesy & Copyright
Mark Larese-Casanova

Around 50 million years ago, large fresh- and salt-water lakes covered parts of Utah, and in these areas, vast amounts of sediments, including oolites, were deposited. Over time, these oolites were compressed and cemented together into limestone.

A quarry near Ephraim in Sanpete County supplied oolitic limestone for the construction of the Governor’s Mansion in 1902 and the original Salt Lake City Public Library in 1905. The Library building, located at 15 South State Street, eventually housed the Hansen Planetarium and is now home to the O.C. Tanner flagship store. The building underwent an extensive restoration just a couple of years ago, and now serves as a shining example of neoclassical architecture in our capitol city.

The truth is, there are tens of millions of years separating oolitic limestone from our modern-day brine shrimp. So, we can’t exactly say that prehistoric brine shrimp were responsible for the existence of the O.C. Tanner building. But, it’s fun to imagine precious gems from around the world housed in a beautiful building constructed from the ‘pearls’ of Great Salt Lake.

Click to view larger image of the historic OC Tanner building made from oolitic sandstone (This building formerly housed the Salt Lake Library and Hansen Planetarium), Photo Courtesy and Copyright Mark Larese-Casanova — Historic OC Tanner Building
(formerly the Salt Lake Library
and later the Hansen Planetarium)
Photo Courtesy & Copyright
Mark Larese-Casanova

For Wild About Utah, I’m Mark Larese-Casanova.
Credits:

Images: Courtesy and copyright Mark Larese-Casanova

Text: Mark Larese-Casanova, Utah Master Naturalist Program at Utah State University Extension.
Additional Reading:

Utah Geological Survey https://geology.utah.gov/utahgeo/rockmineral/collecting/oolitic.htm

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Program
https://wildlife.utah.gov/gsl/facts/oolitic_sand.php

Salt Lake Brine Shrimp, https://saltlakebrineshrimp.com/harvest/

July 18, 2013March 21, 2022

Utah at the Smithsonian

Hi, I’m Holly Strand from the Quinney College of Natural Resources at Utah State University.

You don’t have to be in Utah to appreciate some of its treasures. Examples of Utah natural history can be found in museums around the globe. The last time I was in Washington DC, I explored the collections of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. There turned out to be a whole lot more Utah stuff than I ever imagined.

Many would consider dinosaurs to be our most illustrious museum export. Indeed a 90-foot long Utah diplodocus is the centerpiece of the museum’s Dinosaur Hall.

Not far away is an amazingly intact Camarasaurus from Utah’s Dinosaur National Monument. Its fossilized bones remained in position for over 150 million years. So beautifully and naturally preserved, it still rests on part of the sandstone block in which it was found.

Only a tiny fraction of the Museum’s collections are on display. The vast majority of its 126 million specimens are in drawers, vaults, and freezers. These items are meticulously cataloged and preserved and they serve as primary reference materials for researchers around the world. I found many 1000s of cataloged items for Utah plants, mammals and birds. Less abundant, there are still 100s of records representing specimens of our amphibians, reptiles and fish.

If you poke around in the collections databases you are sure to find something of interest. I found records of some 300 Utah plant specimens collected by Lester Frank Ward, a botanist who worked for John Wesley Powell on his western expeditions. Powell also contributed to the Smithsonian’s collection of flora and fauna. I found 8 bison skulls and one grass species, but there is probably more.

There is the skull and partial skeleton of a grizzly killed in Logan Canyon. Not Old Ephraim–his skull is here in Utah–but another one killed the year before.

In 1950, a meteorite struck a driveway just a few feet from a Box Elder County woman. A few years later, the meteorite was donated to the Smithsonian. But not before it was enhanced by local schoolchildren using crayons of various colors.

The museum’s mineral collection contains 1000s of Utah specimen, some with very strange names : I found Beaverite, Rabbitite Englishite, Coffinite, Psuedowavellite, Cristobalite, Alunite, Apatite and even Bieberite. As in Justin, I guess.

Anyway, you get the idea. The Smithsonian collections form the largest, most comprehensive natural history collection in the world. And Utah is a prime contributor of both collection items and the stories behind them.

By the way, not only are Utah things in the Smithsonian, but there are also Smithsonian things in Utah.

For example, the Henry Mountains in south central Utah were named after the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Joseph Henry.

Another example is Smithsonite–or zinc carbonate–which was first identified by James Smithson in 1802. The very same Smithson left his fortune to the United States government, directing that it be used to create the Smithsonian Institution. The mineral Smithsonite has been found in Tooele and Washington Counties.

Lastly, there’s Smithsonian Butte. When the Powell Expedition traveled through the Zion area, geologist Edward Dutton named the Butte after the expedition’s most generous sponsor. Smithsonian Butte Road is a designated national backcountry byway, crossing over the Vermilion cliffs between Utah 9 and Utah 59.

For pictures, sources and links, go to www.Wildaboututah.org

For Wild About Utah, I’m Holly Strand.

Credits:

Images: Information and photos provided with the permission of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 10th and Constitution Ave. N.W., Washington, DC 20560-0193. (https://www.nmnh.si.edu/)
Smithsonian Butte, Public Domain, Courtesy National Scenic Byways Online and Bureau of Land Management., John Smith, Photographer
Text: Holly Strand

Sources & Additional Reading

Panoramic Virtual Tour of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). Navigate or go directly to the Dinosaur Hall to see the diplodocus from Utah. (Fossils: Dinosaur 2)
https://www.mnh.si.edu/panoramas/index.html

Dinosaur page of the NMNH.https://paleobiology.si.edu/dinosaurs/index.html

Research and Collections of the Smithsonian NMNH.
https://www.mnh.si.edu/rc/

Access to Smithsonian NMNH Museum Collection Records databases
https://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/

Smithsonite, Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institute, https://www.mnh.si.edu/onehundredyears/featured_objects/smithsonite.html