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LeighAnn Coleman
Geo 1010
4/10/18
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Little Cottonwood Canyon is a plethora of geologic situations like: the large glacier that
craved through it creating the canyon, the smaller glaciers that helped form the terrane to have
peaks and valleys, the vast contact zone that charged the chemistry and physical features of one
side, the multiply factors that lead to its asymmetry, and its location being near a large fault line.
Little Cottonwood Canyon was formed during the Pleistocene Epoch approximately
26,000 years ago (Harper 1990). During the Pleistocene Epoch, the area near Little Cottonwood
canyon accumulated enough snow to form a large glacier, known as Bull Lake Glacier. Bull
Lake Glacier spanned 12 miles and reach a depth between 450 to 850 ft (Eldredge). It flowed for
east to west until it reached Lake Bonneville, leaving behind the classic u-shape in the granitic
walls and a moderate number of moraines. Climate began to change around 8,000 to 7,500 years
ago, resulting in warmer and dryer seasons, causing the Bull Lake Glacier to melt (Harper 1990).
There are signs showing where the glacier gathered sediment of varying sizes along the walls of
the canyon. As the glacier moved the sediments were carried along and eroding due to the ice
and abrasion caused by the sediment encountering the ground and walls of the canyon, leaving
behind gouge marks in the rocks and ground. At and near the mouth of the canyon, the sediments
were deposited leaving behind piles of sediment varying from everything between clay to
boulders. These piles grow over the years and created an outer and an inner moraine. On the
north side there are areas of till and erratics that reach between 5,760 ft to 5,480 ft (Madsen
1979). On the south side of the canyon there are two lateral moraines. One is an inner moraine
that is larger than the outer moraine and extends to the west side of a fault zone in the canyon
(Richmond 1964). The inner moraine splits at the canyon mouth creating morainal arcs in the
outwash zone in the west. The outer morainal is located above the inner moraine and is quite
smaller that the inner one. There is a high chance that faulting is the cause of the size difference.
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Faulting might have occurred during the period between the two moraines separating the
deposition.
Bull Lake Glacier was not the only glacier in the area, just the largest. Multiply glaciers
where in the area and evidence of their existence can be seen. These glaciers carved out cirques.
Some of the cirques later accumulated water, forming tarns. These glaciers also helped form the
horns and arêtes, that can be found in the canyon mostly on the south side. Due to their smaller
size, the glaciers were not able to erode as far down as Bull Lake Glacier. This lesser erosion
created hanging valleys along the south side, usually accompanied by a waterfall, where the
smaller glaciers meet Bull Lake Glacier. The hanging valleys range between 600 ft to 400ft
above the canyon floor (Richmond 1964). Peruvian Guch is the highest at about 600 ft high
(Richmond 1964). White Pine Fork is the lowest at about 400 ft high (Richmond 1964).
One of the unique features of Little Cottonwood Canyon is that the north side was a vast
contact zone approximately 25 million years ago (Richmond 1964). This has left the north side
with an extensive amount the of Tertiary intrusive igneous rock, quartz monzonite. The heat and
the internal fissures from the contact zone altered the physical and chemical properties of the Pre
Cambrian to Jurassic aged sedimentary layers above, leaving behind a new layer of Precambrian
metamorphic rocks. These changes created layers of quartzite, tillite, slate, and altered
limestones above the newly formed granite. The sedimentary layer on the north side also consists
of silver, lead, copper, gold, and zinc in the fissures of the limestone layers located above the
contact zone. Due to these minerals Little Cottonwood Canyon was home to a mining town. The
mines that were dug up are now restricted to the public and some are used as water reservoirs.
Little Cottonwood Canyon was also mined for that vast amount of granite it has. This granite
would later be used to build the Salt Lake Latter Day Saints Temple.
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One of the noticeable features of Little Cottonwood Canyon is that is asymmetrical. The
west side has an average altitude of 11,150 ft and the east side has an average of 11,625 ft
(Richmond 1964). One of the causes of this asymmetry is due to the fault lines in the canyon.
There are clear signs of uplift along the walls, most notable is at the tops where it is easy to
distinguish the grabens and horsts. In the lower sector of the canyon, the difference ranges
between 5,000 ft to 3,500 ft; in the upper section the difference ranges between 2,600 ft to 1,400
ft (Richmond 1964). Another thing that makes the canyon asymmetry is the creeks in the area.
The north side has no creeks, but the south side has quite a few from the hanging valleys. These
creeks both erode and help build up the south side of the canyon. The creeks flow from the tarns,
carrying the sediment from that area. Some of the sediment is then deposited on the canyon floor
Due to Little Cottonwood Canyon being located along the Wasatch fault, it experiences
faulting. The Wasatch fault cuts across Little Cottonwood Canyon creating grabens and horsts,
with some of the horsts reaching 40 m high. These horsts grew to be that tall after a numerous
amount of faulting. At the Little Cotton wood canyon site, the Wasatch fault is .5 km wide and is
located at the start of 70 km long seismic gap (Swan 1980). Signs of the recent faulting is spread
across the moraines near the mouth of the canyon. There are signs of at least 11 fault scrapes
running west to east (Swan 1980). There will be more faulting in the future. The Wasatch fault
zone slip rate for Little Cottonwood canyon is .99 mm per year (Swan 1980). Using that
measurement, the recurrence of faulting is approximately every 2200 years, with displacement of
ground being around 2 m (Swan 1980). This faulting is caused by an earthquake that is between
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Work Cited
Eldredge, S. (n.d.). GeoSights: Glacial Landforms in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, Salt
Lake County. Retrieved April 16, 2018, from https://geology.utah.gov/map-pub/survey-
notes/geosights/glacial-landforms-in-big-and-little-cottonwood-canyons/
Harper, K., & Petersen, M. (1990). Natural History of Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. Bulletin
of the Ecological Society of America, 71(2), 381-382. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org.libprox1.slcc.edu/stable/20167193
Madsen, D. B., & Currey, D. R. (1979, September). Late Quaternary Glacial and Vegetation
Changes, Little Cottonwood Canyon Area, Wasatch Mountains, Utah | Quaternary
Research. Retrieved April 16, 2018, from
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/quaternary-research/article/div-classtitlelate-
quaternary-glacial-and-vegetation-changes-little-cottonwood-canyon-area-wasatch-
mountains-utahdiv/01137F53F8A5770429296DA06C74753A
Swan, F. H., III, Hanson, K. L., Schwartz, D. P., & Knuepfer, P. L. (1980). Study of Earthquake
Recurrence Intervals on the Wasatch Fault, Utah: Little Cottonwood Canyon Site (pp. 1-
30, Rep. No. No. 81-450). U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved April 16, 2018, from
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1567&context=govdocs
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Picture showing the classic u-shape of the canyon.
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There are multiply water run off paths and signs of faulting along the top.
On the left is a horn created by multiply glaciers. In the middle is path for a creek.
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An example of layered sedimentary rocks and faults.
A picture of Tanner Gulch. Tanner Gulch is a dried-up creek bed with a variety of different sized
sediments.
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