Roberto Solorzano
Geology 1010
December 9th, 2016
http://robertosjportfolio.weebly.com/
On the 2nd of December My Group and I went up to Little Cottonwood Canyon. Little Cottonwood Canyon is located within the Wasatch Forest on the east side of Salt Lake City. Little Cottonwood Canyon is such a beautiful place. People go up there to hike, snowboard and many other different types of activities as well. We got to go up the Little Cottonwood Canyon and observe the canyon and see if we can identify things that we have learned in this class and point It out. One of the things I wanted to focus on was to see if I can identity some rock types, and to see if I can figure out how the canyon formed in the first place.
As we drove up to Little Cottonwood Canyon the first thing I was able to notice was the U shaped canyon. Little Cottonwood Canyon was shaped like a “U” because of the glaciation from the last Ice Age that carved into it. U shaped valleys are mostly formed by the scarring that glaciation leaves. The canyon formed thousands of years ago. We stopped at the G.K. Gilbert Geologic View Park to get a good view at the Canyon. Many of the rock formations and Wasatch fault were able to be identified pretty easily from the park. There were some signs at the park that helped us identify some of the rock formations. There was the Little Willow Formation, the Big Cottonwood Formation and the Little Cottonwood Stock. By looking at the Little Willow Rock Formation, I’m pretty sure I was able to identify some shale and quartz on that part of the canyon, which I do believe is the oldest out of the rock formations. Now moving over a little bit we were able to look at the Big Cottonwood Canyon formation as well, the canyon seemed to have some shale and quartz on it as well. The one that I feel like I liked the most was the Little Cottonwood Stock. It was mostly made up of granite. Some of the major features that we were able to see were the Wasatch’s fault, fault scarps, glacial boulders some morraines, and of course the U-shaped canyon itself.
As we went up into the U shaped valley we were able to identity some other stuff as well. There was a lot of granite going up Little Cottonwood canyon. We stopped by The Temple Quarry Trail. We didn’t go all the way in but I did hear some stories about the Quarry trail and how Little Cottonwood Canyon had to do pretty much everything to do with that trail. The granite from the canyon was supposedly used to help construct the trail, boulders and the temple by Mormon Pioneers many years ago. The granite that was used to construct the temple is said by others, the greatest granite in North America. I really wish we had time to stop by there and look around for a little bit, but it’s definitely somewhere that I plan on going In the summertime.
There was a lot to see at Little Cottonwood Canyon, we just didn’t have to see all of it. I have lived in Utah my whole life and I never realized how much Geology info there was all over Utah. This experience was amazing and fun. I got the chance to hang out with a great group of people and see some of the beauty that world has to offer. It’s amazing what we can see if we just open our eyes and look.
Work Cited
Eldredge, S. (2008, May 2). G.K. Gilbert Geologic View Park, Salt Lake County, Utah. Retrieved November 7, 2014, from http://geology.utah.gov/surveynotes/geosights/
Eldredge, S. (2010, September 1). Glacial Landforms in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, Salt Lake County, Utah. Retrieved November 8, 2014, from http://geology.utah.gov/surveynotes/geosights/cottonwood_canyons.htm
Utah Geologic Map. (2014, November 8). Retrieved November 8, 2014, from http://geology.utah.gov/maps/geomap/interactive/viewer/index.html
Geology 1010
December 9th, 2016
http://robertosjportfolio.weebly.com/
On the 2nd of December My Group and I went up to Little Cottonwood Canyon. Little Cottonwood Canyon is located within the Wasatch Forest on the east side of Salt Lake City. Little Cottonwood Canyon is such a beautiful place. People go up there to hike, snowboard and many other different types of activities as well. We got to go up the Little Cottonwood Canyon and observe the canyon and see if we can identify things that we have learned in this class and point It out. One of the things I wanted to focus on was to see if I can identity some rock types, and to see if I can figure out how the canyon formed in the first place.
As we drove up to Little Cottonwood Canyon the first thing I was able to notice was the U shaped canyon. Little Cottonwood Canyon was shaped like a “U” because of the glaciation from the last Ice Age that carved into it. U shaped valleys are mostly formed by the scarring that glaciation leaves. The canyon formed thousands of years ago. We stopped at the G.K. Gilbert Geologic View Park to get a good view at the Canyon. Many of the rock formations and Wasatch fault were able to be identified pretty easily from the park. There were some signs at the park that helped us identify some of the rock formations. There was the Little Willow Formation, the Big Cottonwood Formation and the Little Cottonwood Stock. By looking at the Little Willow Rock Formation, I’m pretty sure I was able to identify some shale and quartz on that part of the canyon, which I do believe is the oldest out of the rock formations. Now moving over a little bit we were able to look at the Big Cottonwood Canyon formation as well, the canyon seemed to have some shale and quartz on it as well. The one that I feel like I liked the most was the Little Cottonwood Stock. It was mostly made up of granite. Some of the major features that we were able to see were the Wasatch’s fault, fault scarps, glacial boulders some morraines, and of course the U-shaped canyon itself.
As we went up into the U shaped valley we were able to identity some other stuff as well. There was a lot of granite going up Little Cottonwood canyon. We stopped by The Temple Quarry Trail. We didn’t go all the way in but I did hear some stories about the Quarry trail and how Little Cottonwood Canyon had to do pretty much everything to do with that trail. The granite from the canyon was supposedly used to help construct the trail, boulders and the temple by Mormon Pioneers many years ago. The granite that was used to construct the temple is said by others, the greatest granite in North America. I really wish we had time to stop by there and look around for a little bit, but it’s definitely somewhere that I plan on going In the summertime.
There was a lot to see at Little Cottonwood Canyon, we just didn’t have to see all of it. I have lived in Utah my whole life and I never realized how much Geology info there was all over Utah. This experience was amazing and fun. I got the chance to hang out with a great group of people and see some of the beauty that world has to offer. It’s amazing what we can see if we just open our eyes and look.
Work Cited
Eldredge, S. (2008, May 2). G.K. Gilbert Geologic View Park, Salt Lake County, Utah. Retrieved November 7, 2014, from http://geology.utah.gov/surveynotes/geosights/
Eldredge, S. (2010, September 1). Glacial Landforms in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, Salt Lake County, Utah. Retrieved November 8, 2014, from http://geology.utah.gov/surveynotes/geosights/cottonwood_canyons.htm
Utah Geologic Map. (2014, November 8). Retrieved November 8, 2014, from http://geology.utah.gov/maps/geomap/interactive/viewer/index.html