Utah’s Geologic History Prehistoric Land & Animals
Cornell Notes: Set-up Cornell Notes on IN Page73 Title: Shaping the Land Essential Question: How did Natural Forces shape Utah’s land?
Shaping the Land Wind, water, earthquakes, floods, cold weather & heat have worked together to cause changes in our land.
Ancient Seas & Sandstorms As shallow seas washed away, desert sands compressed into high mountains of sandstone. After the Ice Age ended, the glaciers melted, forming Lake Bonneville
Utah’s Mountains & Plateaus Pressure from both the Atlantic & Pacific Oceans caused parts of North America to form great peaks, including the Rocky Mountains Water and wind caused erosion that cut beautiful cliffs & canyons in the rock Faults, or cracks, formed at weak spots in the Earth’s crust Underground volcanic activity also caused some parts of the land to rise up to form mountains in southern Utah
Our Environment Today Mudslides, rock slides, floods and earthquakes are evidence that the earth is still changing
Fossil Fuels Utah is rich in fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas. Utah’s minerals come from the bodies of many plants and animals, combined with heat and pressure.
Utah’s Faults wweb/main.jsp?flag= browse&smd=1&awdi d=9 wweb/main.jsp?flag= browse&smd=1&awdi d=9
Dinosaurs in Utah The Mesozoic Era is associated with dinosaurs Dinosaurs have been found in Jensen, Vernal & Price 1992: a newly discovered dinosaur with huge slashing claws was called the Utahraptor
Some Utah Dinosaurs Herbivores Allosaurus Tyrannosaurus Utahraptor Carnivores Apatosaurus Stegosaurus Camptosaurus Camarasaurus Diplodocus Triceratops
The Ice Age During the Ice Age, the temperatures were cooler than today--around 15 degrees on average. It caused huge sheets of ice called glaciers to cover the Utah mountains. Utah’s canyons were created by glaciers moving downward from the mountains.
The Ice Age Just like the dinosaurs, a mammoth skeleton was discovered near Huntington Reservoir.
End of the Ice Age As temperatures warmed up during the Ice Age, glaciers melted and the water level rose and one lake covered much of Utah in ancient times: Lake Bonneville. One remnant of Lake Bonneville is the Great Salt Lake, Utah’s largest body of water.
L A K E BONNEVILLE
The Great Salt Lake The Great Salt Lake has enough salt to satisfy the world’s needs for a thousand years Three things to know about the GSL: ( a ) no water flows out of it ( b ) It was once part of an ancient lake ( c ) It is the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere.