Table of Contents Utah’s Newly Recognized Dinosaur Record . 1 The Inventory and Management of Utah’s Fossil Resources . 5 Director’s Survey News . 6 Robert W. Gloyn . 7 Perspective Pilot Project Shows Promise for Aquifer Storage and Recovery . 8 by Richard G. Allis Deep Utah coal deposits - repositories for greenhouse gas emissions? . 10 he Utah Geological Survey (UGS) has just completed a five-year planning GeoSights . 12 document to coincide with the transition to a new governor and executive Lehi Hintze Award . 13 administration. The document points out that the need for geological “Glad You Asked” . .14 information and advice is becoming increasingly important due to Utah’s ongo- Teacher’s Corner . 15 Ting economic and population growth, which are stressing its geologic resources Design by Vicky Clarke (minerals, energy, ground water), increasing vulnerability to natural hazards, and Cover: A new UGS dinosaur quarry at base of increasing conflict over wise use of land. Examples of issues confronting Utahns Cedar Mountain Formation (see page 1). Other over the next decade for which geological information from the UGS will be criti- captions, p. 5. cal include the following: • Utah has considerable energy and mineral wealth (annual production value of State of Utah Jon Huntsman, Jr., Governor $3 billion) but there are increasing challenges to extracting that wealth in an Department of Natural Resources acceptable and environmentally sustainable way. Michael Styler, Executive Director • Utah’s demand for electricity continues to grow, and will likely require new UGS Board coal-fired power plant capacity. Charles Semborski, Chair Geoff Bedell Craig Nelson • Natural gas has become Utah’s most important energy commodity in recent Kathleen Ochsenbein Robert Robison years, replacing copper (1960s) and oil (1980s), but normal production decline Steve Church Ron Bruhn rates in existing wells will require new exploration to sustain this trend Kevin Carter (Trust Lands Administration-ex officio) through the 2000s. UGS Staff Administration • The continued growth in urban areas is filling available land on the valley Richard G. Allis, Director floors and causing development in more hazardous areas along the mountain- Kimm Harty, Deputy Director John Kingsley, Assoc. Director front regions. Daniel Kelly, Acct. Officer • Utah has been lucky that a very damaging earthquake has not yet occurred Rebecca Medina, Secretary/Receptionist along the Wasatch Front in historical times; old, unreinforced masonry build- Jo Lynn Campbell, Admin. Secretary Linda Bennett, Accounting Tech. ings vulnerable to collapse that were built until the 1970s are abundant in Michael Hylland, Tech. Reviewer most downtown city areas. Editorial Staff Jim Stringfellow • Utah is the second-driest state, and this is compounded by the ongoing Vicky Clarke, Sharon Hamre, James Parker, Lori Douglas drought; ground-water resources are finite, and in some areas of the state they Geologic Hazards Gary Christenson may have been over-appropriated William Lund, Barry Solomon, Francis Ashland, Richard Giraud, Greg McDonald, Lucas Shaw, Clearly the UGS has an important role to play in state government in the coming Chris DuRoss, Mike Kirschbaum, Garrett Vice years. Energy and Mineral Resources David Tabet Utah’s use of its natural Robert Blackett, Roger Bon, Thomas Chidsey, resources such as oil, gas, Bryce Tripp, Craig Morgan, J. Wallace Gwynn, Jeff Quick, Kevin McClure, Sharon Wakefield, minerals, and ground water Cheryl Gustin, Mike Laine, Tom Dempster, has grown as the popula- Brigitte Hucka, Dallas Rippy, Taylor Boden tion has grown. These Geologic Mapping Grant Willis trends are expected to con- Jon King, Douglas Sprinkel, Janice Hayden, tinue, requiring additional Kent Brown, Bob Biek, Basia Matyjasik, geologic advice and infor- Lisa Brown, Don Clark, Darryl Greer mation to help with chal- Geologic Information and Outreach Sandra Eldredge, William Case lenging land-use decisions Christine Wilkerson, Mage Yonetani, that balance development Patricia Stokes, Mark Milligan, Carl Ege, versus preservation needs. Rob Nielson, Jeff Campbell, Nancy Carruthers Mineral production value Environmental Sciences Michael Lowe has been adjusted to year- James Kirkland, Charles Bishop, Janae Wallace, 2000 dollars. Martha Hayden, Hugh Hurlow, Juliette Lucy, Don DeBlieux, Neil Burk, Kim Nay, Stefan Kirby, Survey Notes is published three times yearly by Utah Geological Survey, 1594 W. North Temple, Suite 3110, Salt Lake City, Utah Justin Johnson, Jake Umbriaco 84116; (801) 537-3300. The UGS is an applied scientific agency that creates, evaluates, and distributes information about Utah’s geologic environment, resources, and hazards to promote safe, beneficial, and wise use of land. The UGS is a division of the Department of Natural Resources. Single copies of Survey Notes are distributed free of charge within the United States and Cana- ISSN 1061-7930 da and reproduction is encouraged with recognition of source. Copies are available at http://geology.utah.gov/surveynotes S URVEY N OTES 1 Utah’s Newly Recognized Dinosaur Record from the Early Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation by James I. Kirkland Introduction Many of Utah’s sedimentary rock layers contain abundant fossils and other features that have given us a wealth of information about dinosaurs and the environmental con- ditions under which they lived. With sites such as the Carnegie Quarry at Dinosaur National Monument in northeastern Utah, and the Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry southwest of Price, Utah is justifiably famous for its dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation. Likewise, Utah’s Late Cretaceous dinosaur record is well known as the most complete in the world, owing to the extraordinary fossil record preserved in southern Utah. However, rocks from the Early Cretaceous period had until recently yielded little information about the dinosaurs that lived here during that time. Only over the past decade have new discoveries revealed the importance of dinosaurs preserved in Utah’s Early Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation. This recently recognized dinosaur Outcrop of Cedar Mountain Formation in east-central Utah. record permits for the first time a detailed reconstruction of Utah’s Early Cretaceous geology, biology, geography, The reported absence of dinosaur bones in the Cedar and climate. Mountain Formation limited the number of paleontolo- In 1944 the University of Utah’s William Lee Stokes gists investigating these rocks for many years. Because applied the name Cedar Mountain Shale to drab, slope- geologists lacked any accepted means of subdividing these forming rocks lying between the Buckhorn Conglomerate rocks, they were long considered to be a rather monoto- and Dakota Formation, based on a type-section defined on nous sequence of Early Cretaceous strata that generally the southwest flank of Cedar Mountain at the north end of thicken to the west. Then, new dinosaur species reported the San Rafael Swell in Emery Co., Utah. In 1952, he in the mid-1990s led to a rush of institutions searching for renamed it the Cedar Mountain Formation and included the dinosaurs in the Cedar Mountain Formation. Brigham the Buckhorn Conglomerate as its basal member. Back Young University, College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric then, where the cliff-forming Buckhorn is not present, the Museum, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, rule of thumb for distinguishing the Cedar Mountain from Dinosaur National Monument, Oklahoma Museum of the underlying Morrison Formation included (1) its more Natural History, and the Utah Geological Survey are just drably variegated color, (2) its more abundant carbonate some of the many research groups presently looking for nodules often with a thick carbonate paleosol (ancient soil) fossils. A wealth of new fossil sites, and some radiometric at the base, (3) the presence of common polished chert dates, have established that the relatively thin layer (nor- pebbles identified as gastroliths (dinosaur stomach mally less than 100 meters) of Early Cretaceous Cedar stones), and (4) the absence of dinosaur bones. Mountain Formation, which separates thousands of 2 S URVEY N OTES Ankylosaur preserved lying on its back in Buckhorn Conglomerate near Buckhorn Wash, near Cedar Mountain type section southwest of Cedar Mountain. meters of Jurassic rocks and thou- sy has arisen over the age of the Dinosaurs identified in these rocks sands of meters of Late Cretaceous Buckhorn Conglomerate, as a thick include the polacanthine ankylosaur, rocks, is more complex than previous- carbonate paleosol locally overlies the Gastonia burgei; advanced iguan- ly thought. Additionally, it preserves Buckhorn and a similar paleosol has odonts (bipedal plant eaters with nearly 30 million years of what may been used to define the base of the thumb spikes), “Iguanodon” ottingeri, be the most interesting episode of Cretaceous elsewhere. However, and perhaps other species; and sever- dinosaur history apart from their ori- well-developed paleosols may occur al sauropod (long-necked dinosaurs) gin and extinction. at a number of stratigraphic positions families, represented by the bra- within the Cedar Mountain Forma- chiosaurid Cedarosaurus weiskopfae, a In 1997, using the distribution of spe- tion. Additionally, the recent discov- new titanosaurid, and a possible cific dinosaur faunas (groups of ery of a possible ankylosaur (armored camarasaurid. Meat-eating or thero- dinosaurs living together) and their dinosaur) skeleton suggests a Creta- pod dinosaurs