Utah’s Geologic HistoryPrehistoric 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 http://utah.ptfs.com/awweb/main.jsp?flag=browse&smd=1&awdid=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.

LA

KE

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.