Definitely a remote place, Jurassic National Monument south of Price, Utah is a fabulous park that preserves numerous Allosaurus and Stegosaurus bones from the Morrison Formation in the Cleveland Lloyd Quarry. A little out of the way, but well worth the trip.

After an awful climb (1200 ft in 1.5 miles) to the entrance, we were treated to the fabulous Timpanogos Cave outside American Fork, Utah. One of the features are the spectacular helictites that seem to defy gravity, as well as the "Heart of the Mountain". Fabulous cave, once you make the climb!

Visited the very interesting Cascade Falls today near Cedar Breaks NP. The N Fork of the Virgin River originates in Navajo Lake, but flows about a mile underground through a limestone cave formed by ancient lava flows, emerging at the falls. A great view of Zion NP to the south as well.

Great day to visit the St George Dinosaur Discovery Site in SW Utah. Tracks from numerous dinos are displayed as they were found in the Moenave Formation, including where a dinosaur went swimming and left imprints in the mud. Fabulous museum to visit on a 107 degree day. 🦖

Darwin says Happy Caturday!

Managed to get some beautiful Mountain Bluebird photos outside Creede, CO a few days ago...

Near Redmond, Utah is quite the sight! During the Jurassic period, the Sundance Sea covered this part of Utah and the Arapien Shale, which includes layers of salt, was deposited. The buoyant salt then rose to the surface as diapirs. The salt is mined and sold as Redmond Real Salt®.

What a beautiful morning to look at rocks! These are Honeycomb Rock volcanic tuffs from the Pine Park Caldera that erupted 11.9 Ma on the UT/NV border. When the sun is out, these bright white tuffs are blinding, so pack your shades and enjoy the area.

For Earth Day, let's visit a unique location. This is The Lace Curtain near Delta, Utah. Volcanic tuff from Pahvant Butte interacted with storm waves from Lake Bonneville that eroded the tuff unevenly to create intricate patterns that resemble dripping candle wax. Bit of a drive, but well worth it.

A new visitor to the feeders today; this Rose-breasted Grosbeak is on his migration from Central/South America to the northern US and Canada. This guy seems to love our safflower seeds.

More from Utah! These rocks are part of the Cambrian Wheeler Shale, famous for its fossils that closely match what is found in the Burgess Shale in Canada, including many forms of trilobites. Nearby is the famous "U-Dig Fossils" quarry where the public can dig their own Cambrian treasures.

@hmoluseyi.bsky.social Great commentary on the Artemis launch today, Doctor! 💯👍

About 30 million years ago, a large stratovolcano erupted in what is now central Utah near Eureka. Eventually, it collapsed, creating a huge caldera. Later magmatic intrusions formed dikes that cooled, contracted, and formed the columnar joints we see today at Paul Bunyan's Woodpile.

At Buffalo Point on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake are strange mounds reaching for the sky. These are living stromatolites, composed of some of Earth's oldest lifeforms, cyanobacteria. The lake's briny environment prevents organisms from grazing or burrowing into them, so they flourish here.

A wild Darwin in his native setting....

Rozel Point at the north end of the Great Salt Lake is one of the more unusual geology sites in Utah. Miocene organic-rich lake sediments generated oil that follows fractures and pools in a basalt (yes, basalt!) reservoir rock. The oil then leaks to the surface as a sticky tar. Definitely weird!

Fantasy Canyon south of Vernal, UT is chock full of whimsical patterns. Sandstones and mudstones of the Uinta Formation, the result of ancient river channel and floodplain sediments deposited during the Eocene, have eroded into these odd shapes and patterns which are extremely fragile.

Nine Mile Canyon NE of Price, UT is often called "the world's longest art gallery" for its many petroglyphs created by the Fremont Culture approximately 1,200 years ago. The main walls are the Great Hunt and Owl Panel; definitely worth the drive.

Next stop, the large concretions at Buried Forest in Utah. Originally thought to be the ends of large trees, they were the cross sections of extremely large concretions in the Mancos Shale formed along the Cretaceous Interior Seaway 90 million years ago.

Welcome to Utahraptor State Park, Utah's newest state park. Preserved within the park is the Dalton Wells Quarry where many species of dinosaurs were found, including Utahraptor, in the Yellow Cat member of the Cedar Mountain formation. The climb to the quarry is quite intense, but well worth it.

First up, not geology, but still interesting. Newspaper Rock near Canyonlands NP is a fascinating look at life on the Plateau. Created by several groups that inhabited the region, the petroglyphs are amazingly preserved and highly detailed.

So yes, a trip to Utah for fieldwork. But first, a stay at the historic El Rancho in Gallup NM where many movie stars of the day. Got to overnight in the Lee Remick room, who happens to be one of my favorite actresses of the time.

Ok folks, get ready for numerous geo photos once I'm back from my current assignment! 😁

15 years ago right about this time of day, the Tohoku-oki earthquake was unleashed, with as much as 100 meters of fault slip documented at the Japan Trench. The resulting tsunami rocked Japan and the world, claiming ~18,000 lives. It was one of only 5 M9 quakes ever recorded. ⚒️

Our loud guy (Red Bellied Woodpecker) came for a visit today...

First time visit this year for the Cedar Waxwings. About 25 in the back tree, but wouldn't come down to the feeders. Nikon D600, Sigma 150-600mm crop to 900mm, f8, 1/500, ISO400, +1.7 exp.

Sometimes I forget I have a bluesky account and should really post more geology here... 😊

Our friend the Eastern Bluebird came for a visit to the feeders yesterday.

Ok, I've seen a lot of Kongsberg silvers, but these are just silly... 🤣

Just a saguaro cactus outside Tucson today...

Even through a fence, this Black-Throated Magpie-Jay's blue colours show up brilliantly. He was too busy eating something off the branch to notice me, or he just didn't care. Nikon D850, Nikon 28-300mm Lens, 168mm dx crop, f11, ISO1600, 1/80 sec., +2.0 exp.

One of the more numerous birds at the Sonoran Desert Museum, Cactus Wrens can be seen (and heard) throughout the park. They love to pearch on ocatillo branches to view their surroundings. Nikon D850, Sigma 150-600mm S Lens, 405mm, f7.1, ISO400, 1/1250 sec., +0.3 exp.

A new bird for me, this beautiful Hooded Oriole was feeding on the ground at the Sonoran Desert Museum. Was certainly not scared of people walking nearby... Nikon D850, Sigma 150-600mm S Lens, 410mm, f8, ISO400, 1/30 sec., +0.3 exp.

Beautiful day at the Sonoran Desert Museum outside Tucson, Arizona with many birds out, including this Curved Billed Thrasher eyeing us from a cholla cactus. Nikon D850, Sigma 150-600mm S Lens, 900mm dx crop, f8, ISO400, 1/1600 sec.

Salt River Canyon in central Arizona is a fascinating area to examine precambrian geology. Rock as old as 1.8 Ga preserve the Yavapai/Mazatzal terrains as they were being accreted onto the North American continent. Also seen are rocks of the Apache Group and disease dikes dated to 1.1 Ga.

The Goldfinches have now returned.

A new visitor to the feeders, this female Eastern Bluebird treated itself to our fruit/worm suet cylinder. There were two, but one flew off before I could get pics.

Not the best photo, but our "yellowbutt" (aka, Yellow Rumped Warbler) has been a frequent visitor to the feeders in SE Texas this winter.

NW of Houston, TX. Too many lights to see much, but definite aurora to the north.

Gonna be an odd GSA Connects with no federal geoscience agencies here...

After years of writing and traveling the state for photos, the 3rd edition of the Roadside Geology of Texas has arrived! If you're attending GSA Connects in San Antonio, stop by the GSA Bookstore, the Mountain Press booth, or just find me to learn more.

Smoke has definitely settled in. This was yesterday over the Brockway Mountains in Upper Michigan. 😒

Always nice seeing your book in a major bookseller's store! Still hard to believe I wrote that!! 😊

Finally made the trip to Kelleys Island, Ohio to see the HUGE glacial grooves left by the mile thick ice that once covered this region of North America. Closer examination of the grooves, however, suggest water flowing under the ice may have also played a role.

Hanging Rock near Lagro, Indiana on the Wabash River is a great example of a rarely exposed Silurian-aged pinnacle reef. These reefs are an important source of petroleum in the Michigan Basin around the Gaylord, Michigan area of the Lower Peninsula.

The Loggerhead Shrike, also known as the "butcher bird" because of its habit of skewering its kill on barbed wire or small twigs, as seen on Antelope Island, Utah. Right after this photo, it flew off. Nikon D850, Sigma 150-600mm S Lens, 900mm dx crop, f11, ISO400, 1/800 sec, +0.3 exp.

The Western Meadowlark on Antelope Island, Utah. A little shy at first, he finally starting singing after a few minutes. Nikon D850, Sigma 150-600mm S Lens, 660mm with dx crop, f11, ISO400, 1/640 sec, +0.3 exp.

The Bonneville Salt Flats just east of Wendover, NV. The remnants of Lake Bonneville, you can definitely see why it gets its name "flats"!! 😁

Hells Half Acre west of Casper, Wyoming is composed of Eocene aged sediments of the Wind River Formation. The sediment was shed off the Casper Arch, one of the major uplifts of the Rockies.

Time to start sharing pics from recent geology trip. Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake is a great place to see 1.7 Ga Farmington Canyon Complex migmatites.