U Scientists Nominate Iconic Utah Sites
as Global Geoheritage Locations

Sep 24, 2024
Above: The view of Great Salt Lake’s North Arm from Gunnison Island. Credit: Brian Maffly

In 1875, Grove Karl Gilbert laid eyes on Utah’s remote and recently named Henry Mountains, and was fascinated by the “deep carving of the land which renders it so inhospitable to the travel and the settler, [but] is to the geologist a dissection which lays bare the very anatomy of the rocks.”

He observed a “great depth of uplifted and arching strata”, which form domes of sedimentary rock over chambers of hardened “molten rock,” or what came to be called laccoliths.

G.K. Gilbert’s scientific exploration of the Henry Mountains led to the development of a mechanical model for mountain building that has remained valid for 150 years. In recognition of the its role in the history of geoscience, the southern Utah range has been selected as a world geoheritage site by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), along with two other features in Utah: the Great Salt Lake and Coyote Buttes, the sandstone landscape on the Arizona state line that includes The Wave.

Nominated by University of Utah geoscientists, the three sites were among the Second 100 IUGS Geological Heritage sites announced on Aug. 27 at the 37th International Geological Congress in South Korea.  “These are the world’s best demonstrations of geologic features and processes,” the union said in a statement. “They are the sites of fabulous discoveries of the Earth and its history. They are sites that served to develop the science of geology.”

U research professor Marie Jackson, who mapped the three southern domes of the Henry Mountains for her doctoral dissertation in the 1980s, applauded the selection, which is a testament to G. K. Gilbert’s forward-thinking genius in the 19th century.

“This world was unexplored. These domes record raw geologic processes that were here for the viewing,” she said.

Jackson and Marjorie Chan, both professors in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, nominated the Utah sites and compiled descriptions for the IUGS geoheritage catalog. The MSc thesis of their former U graduate student Winston Seiler is devoted to The Wave.

Read the full article by Brian Maffly in @TheU.