Utah Geological Survey
Encyclopedia
The Utah Geological Survey is based in Salt Lake City, Utah
, USA. It also has an office in Cedar City, Utah.
It is a division of the Utah Department of Natural Resources
and is an applied scientific agency, which creates, interprets, and provides information about Utah's geological environment, resources and hazards, in order to promote safe, beneficial, and wise land usage.
Its departments and programs are: Editorial Services, Geologic Hazards Program, Energy & Minerals Program, Geologic Information and Outreach Program, Geologic Mapping Program, Ground Water and Paleontology Program, and the State Energy Program.
The UGS has worked on countless projects in the state, including statewide Geologic hazards
maps, oil shale
assessment, Great Salt Lake
studies, fault trenching, and the Snake Valley/West Desert Groundwater
Monitoring Well Project. In addition, recent research and general geologic information is given in teacher-friendly formats for anyone to use.
. The state governor appointed an advisory board, but no funding was appropriated for salaries or operations and no personnel were assigned to the Survey.
In 1941 the UGMS was placed in the newly created “Utah State Department of Publicity and Industrial Development” (UPID). The UPID hired geologist A.M. Buranek. Over the next few years, Buranek and other contract personnel publish 36 geologic publications sponsored by the UPID. During 1946 the governor appointed Arthur L. Crawford as commissioner of the UPID and urged Crawford to activate the UGMS. Crawford re-hired Buranek and added other geologists, but work continued under the auspices of the UPID.
UPID was disbanded by the state in 1949 and the UGMS was transferred to the State School of Mines and Mineral Industries at the University of Utah
. Crawford was appointed first Director of the UGMS and the Legislature appropriated $25,000 for the 1949-1951 biennial budget. From 1961 to 1965 the UGMS and University of Utah College of Mines and Mineral Industries jointly published the four-part, 1:250,000-scale geologic map of Utah. The first issue of the quarterly publication Quarterly Review (renamed Survey Notes in 1976), containing information pertaining to Utah’s geology and mineral industry, was published in 1964.
In 1973 the Legislature transferred the UGMS from the University of Utah to the Utah Department of Natural Resources and officially named the Survey Director as the State Geologist. The Survey's name was also shortened to “Utah Geological and Mineral Survey” (previously “Mineralogical”). In 1977 the Legislature charged the Survey with responsibility for assessing earthquake risks throughout the state.
The UGMS name was shortened again to “Utah Geological Survey” in 1991. In 1996 the UGS moved to the new Utah Department of Natural Resources complex and opened its regional office in Cedar City.
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, USA. It also has an office in Cedar City, Utah.
It is a division of the Utah Department of Natural Resources
Department of Natural Resources
Many sub-national governments have a Department of Natural Resources or similarly named organization:Australia*Queensland Department of Natural Resources and MinesCanada*Natural Resources Canada*New Brunswick**New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources...
and is an applied scientific agency, which creates, interprets, and provides information about Utah's geological environment, resources and hazards, in order to promote safe, beneficial, and wise land usage.
Its departments and programs are: Editorial Services, Geologic Hazards Program, Energy & Minerals Program, Geologic Information and Outreach Program, Geologic Mapping Program, Ground Water and Paleontology Program, and the State Energy Program.
The UGS has worked on countless projects in the state, including statewide Geologic hazards
Geologic hazards
A geologic hazard is one of several types of adverse geologic conditions capable of causing damage or loss of property and life. These hazards consist of sudden phenomena and slow phenomena:Sudden phenomena include:...
maps, oil shale
Oil shale
Oil shale, an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock, contains significant amounts of kerogen from which liquid hydrocarbons called shale oil can be produced...
assessment, Great Salt Lake
Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake, located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah, is the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere, the fourth-largest terminal lake in the world. In an average year the lake covers an area of around , but the lake's size fluctuates substantially due to its...
studies, fault trenching, and the Snake Valley/West Desert Groundwater
Groundwater
Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock...
Monitoring Well Project. In addition, recent research and general geologic information is given in teacher-friendly formats for anyone to use.
History
The "University Geological and Resource Survey of Utah" was founded in 1919, but without funding. In 1931 the "Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey" was created by the Utah State LegislatureUtah State Legislature
The Utah State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. It is a bicameral body, comprising the Utah House of Representatives, with 75 Representatives, and the Utah Senate, with 29 State Senators...
. The state governor appointed an advisory board, but no funding was appropriated for salaries or operations and no personnel were assigned to the Survey.
In 1941 the UGMS was placed in the newly created “Utah State Department of Publicity and Industrial Development” (UPID). The UPID hired geologist A.M. Buranek. Over the next few years, Buranek and other contract personnel publish 36 geologic publications sponsored by the UPID. During 1946 the governor appointed Arthur L. Crawford as commissioner of the UPID and urged Crawford to activate the UGMS. Crawford re-hired Buranek and added other geologists, but work continued under the auspices of the UPID.
UPID was disbanded by the state in 1949 and the UGMS was transferred to the State School of Mines and Mineral Industries at the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
. Crawford was appointed first Director of the UGMS and the Legislature appropriated $25,000 for the 1949-1951 biennial budget. From 1961 to 1965 the UGMS and University of Utah College of Mines and Mineral Industries jointly published the four-part, 1:250,000-scale geologic map of Utah. The first issue of the quarterly publication Quarterly Review (renamed Survey Notes in 1976), containing information pertaining to Utah’s geology and mineral industry, was published in 1964.
In 1973 the Legislature transferred the UGMS from the University of Utah to the Utah Department of Natural Resources and officially named the Survey Director as the State Geologist. The Survey's name was also shortened to “Utah Geological and Mineral Survey” (previously “Mineralogical”). In 1977 the Legislature charged the Survey with responsibility for assessing earthquake risks throughout the state.
The UGMS name was shortened again to “Utah Geological Survey” in 1991. In 1996 the UGS moved to the new Utah Department of Natural Resources complex and opened its regional office in Cedar City.
External links
- Utah Geological Survey Website
- Oil, coal, & energy resources
- Rocks & minerals
- Utah energy and mineral statistics
- Great Salt Lake
- Geologic maps of Utah
- Earthquakes, landslides, & geologic hazards
- Ground-water reports
- Snake Valley ground-water monitoring-well project
- Dinosaurs & fossils
- Teacher resources
- Utah State Energy Program
- Survey Notes