Tooele County: Geology and Heritage Place: Tooele … · Tooele County: Geology and Heritage Place: ... BARGEN-GPS evidence of western US extension. ... Wegener’s Puzzling Continental

Tooele County: Geology and Heritage Place: Tooele Valley Airport (Erda Road) How to contact Genevieve Atwood: cell = 801-647-8155. Email: [email protected] LINK the workshop flier. See second page for locations and topics of workshop sessions. Note: this is the first year for this workshop so expect some logistical surprises. Suggestions for 2014 are encouraged. Workshop objectives: gain confidence to go outside and share what you see of the Earth science that surrounds you. Meeting date: THURSDAY, September 5, 2013 More on where we meet: The airport is about half way between Stansbury Park and Grantsville, just south of State Highway 138. It’s a bit tricky to get there with present construction. Watch for signs for Erda Way. That’s the street from which to enter the airport.

LINK to map – CLICK HERE Watch for – my green Isuzu Trooper, parked near the “Helipak” sign, toward the south, main, area of the airport. We’ll meet on a gravel pad just outside the airport perimeter, about 100 ft from the road that connects airport facilities.

Restroom / portapottie? Yes Family welcome? Yes – make sure an adult can supervise children under 18. We meet close to the main road of the airport grounds. There’s not much traffic, however, Safety First! Other logistics: I’ll bring some lawn chairs, but if you have a favorite outside chair, bring it. I’ll have some bug juice, some water, binoculars, and a handout. We’ll meet rain or shine. Joy factors / Big concepts A half dozen ways that the Tooele Valley Airport is special for geology, heritage, and / or both. Link to curriculum. We may not discuss each of these, but there will be information in the HANDOUT. HUGE CONCEPT: Every Utah landform is the product of TECTONICS and EROSION/DEPOSITION. Tectonics rules! 1. Regions of Utah: Tooele Valley is an outstanding place to recognize characteristics of Utah’s Basin and Range physiographic province / Great Basin hydrologic region. What a view from Tooele Valley Airport! What a sense of scale for mountains and the wide valley!

Handout: of the 8 landmarks we’ll orient to in this workshop. Handout: Physiographic provinces of Utah… regions based on landforms. Activity: Calendar of Utah’s Travel Council. How many of the images are of (a) the Colorado Plateau; (b) the Rocky Mountain; or the Basin and Range physiographic province… and why. Group work: three groups… contrast the three provinces. 2. Tectonics: Virtually all landforms of Utah are the product of (a) tectonics that sets the scene; and (b) erosion / deposition that sculpts the scenery. Tooele Valley, the Oquirrh Mountains, and Stansbury Mountains, Stansbury Island, Antelope Island, and virtually all landforms seen in Tooele Valley are the product of extensional tectonics. Activity: Dance of the Plates. Handout: USGS, 2010?, Wegener’s Puzzling Evidence. Handout: BARGEN-GPS evidence of western US extension. Handout: Utah Geological Survey (UGS), 2004, map of fault line of eastern Tooele County public info pub LINK just to electronic version of publication. Handout: liquefaction susceptibility, Tooele County. 3. Landforms: Landforms are relatively young. Their bedrock is almost always much older than today’s geologic feature. The Oquirrh Mountains, Stansbury Mountains, Stansbury Island and Antelope Island are all young landforms. Their bedrock is much older and the bedrock of these landforms has greatly differing ages. 4. Heritage: Why are today’s transportation corridors located where they are, specifically, the airport; highway 138; and pioneer / explorer routes, even the Donner-Reed route. HANDOUT: National Park Service (NPS) 2010 – National Historic Trails – Utah, Crossroads of the West, map. Guest lecturer: CRAIG ANDERSON – volunteer at Grantsville’s Donner-Reed Museum (nifty museum and great place to take school and other groups). TENTATIVE AGENDA:

5PM -- Landform yoga (orientation using kinesthetic learning). Practice inquiry using “why” questions.

5:30 – 6:30PM -- Ways Tooele Valley is a terrific place for teaching extensional tectonics and characteristics of Utah’s regions. See “joy factor” above. Some of this will be lecture, some will be shared knowledge. We’ll do the Dance of the Plates. We’ll contrast regions using calendar images.

6:30 PM -- Guest lecture: heritage and Earth systems. How Earth systems affected the Donner-Reed party of 1846. Earth systems and historic trails.

Tooele County Landmarks --pathways to a sense of place.

Utah has 3 regions based on landforms.

Source for both images: USGS web site “Dynamic Planet” -- great site. DIRECTIONS: Cut out each of the continental

land masses along the edge of the continentalshelf (the outer line).

Fossil Evidence

U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological Survey

This Dynamic Planet; A Teaching CompanionWegener’s Puzzling Continental Drift EvidenceU.S. Geological Survey, 2008For updates see <http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/about/edu/dynamicplanet>

GUS S

TECTONICS sets the scene, meaning it largely determines what is high and low.

Source: BARGEN showing GPS locations and spreading.

Tooele

Source: Utah Geological Survey (UGS) - Public Infor Series.

Tooele Army Depot Rd

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Liquefaction Susceptibility Map for Tooele ValleyTooele County, Utah

This map is for general reference only.

Base map from U.S. Geological Survey 30x60-minute topographic quadranglesof Tooele, Rush Valley, and Bonneville Salt Flats. Liquefaction susceptibility mapfrom Black, B.D, Solomon, B.J. and Harty, K.M., 1999, Geology and geologic hazardsof Tooele Valley and the West Desert Hazardous Industry area,Tooele County, Utah:Utah Geological Survey Special Survey Study 96, 65 p., scale 1:100,000

Digitally compiled by Kami Bremser and Deanna HalsethUtah Geological Survey

Map Location

U T A H

High

Low

Very Low

Liquefaction Susceptibility

Moderate See reverseside for

explanation

Utah Geological SurveyPublic Information Series 80

Salt Lake

Co.

Utah Co.Tooele Co.

4 0 4 8Miles

5 0 5 10 Kilometers

August 2003

Basin and Range, Geology WATER and HeritageWhy are transportation corridors where they are?

National Park Service, 2010, (portion of) National Historic Trails - UTAH - Auto Tour Route Map.