What's
New
Stories a Trench Can Tell
Determining St. George Earthquake Threat
Geologists are digging into the Washington fault about three miles south of the Utah-Arizona border in Arizona. "The fault is three miles east of St. George and runs through the nearby city of Washington," said Bill Lund, UGS senior geologist. "There is evidence of surface rupturing earthquakes. Our goal is to figure out how often the fault has moved and how large the earthquakes have been. That will help us understand the potential for future earthquake activity."
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Stimulus Package - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed into law as of February 17, 2009. Portions of the ARRA energy funds will be directly administered by the Utah State Energy Program (USEP).
Additional information.
Western States Seismic Policy Council Names 2009 Awards in Excellence
Winners
The Utah Geological Survey was selected for a 2009 WSSPC Award in Excellence in Research for their Wasatch and Sevier Faults Paleoseismic Research. The Awards will be given at the joint WSSPC-Earthquake Engineering Research
Institute annual conference at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center in Salt Lake City,
Utah at a banquet Friday February 13, 2009. The WSSPC Awards in Excellence program was started in 1996 to recognize
achievement in different areas of earthquake mitigation, preparedness and response.
Click here for other award winners.
Comprehensive Handbook on Earthquakes in Utah is Now Available
Living in Utah means living with earthquakes. Do you know where earthquakes are likely to occur in Utah and what kind of damage they can cause? If a large earthquake occurred right now, what would you do? Do you have a disaster plan and supplies? Have you taken simple steps, such as strapping down your water heater, to reduce your earthquake risk at home?
These questions and others are now addressed in a new publication released by the Utah Seismic Safety Commission (USSC) called Putting Down Roots in Earthquake Country - Your Handbook for Earthquakes in Utah. The “Roots” handbook is a comprehensive resource that provides a variety of information on earthquakes in Utah in an easy-to-read format.
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Available online at the USSC website.
New Estimates of Utah’s Potential Oil Shale Resource Released
According to a new study just released by the Utah Geological Survey (UGS), Utah’s potential economic oil-shale resource equals approximately 77 billion barrels of shale oil. While the estimate is considerably smaller than numbers frequently quoted, it is still deserving of attention. "A domestic resource of this size is very significant; a conventional field with just 1 billion barrels is considered a 'giant'," says Michael Vanden Berg, UGS Project Geologist.
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Fly By the Wasatch Fault with GoogleEarth on YouTube
The Utah Geological Survey (UGS) has uploaded a new and intriguing video about the Wasatch fault on YouTube. “The video is a great example of merging technology and knowledge,” said Rick Allis, UGS director. “To our knowledge, this is a first-of-its-kind video.”
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View video.
April 15, 2009
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