Upheaval Dome is an enigmatic geological structure in San Juan County,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, that has been variously interpreted as a meteorite

impact structure An impact structure is a generally circular or craterlike geologic structure of deformed bedrock or sediment produced by impact on a planetary surface, whatever the stage of erosion of the structure. In contrast, an impact crater is the surface ...

or a

salt dome A salt dome is a type of structural dome formed when salt (or other evaporite minerals) intrudes into overlying rocks in a process known as diapirism. Salt domes can have unique surface and subsurface structures, and they can be discovered usin ...

. The structure lies southwest of the city of

Moab, Utah Moab () is the largest city and county seat of Grand County in eastern Utah in the western United States, known for its dramatic scenery. The population was 5,366 at the 2020 census. Moab attracts many tourists annually, mostly visitors to ...

, in the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park.

Description

Upheaval Dome is approximately in

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid for ...

and the crater is known to be less than 170 million years old (

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

or younger, but how much younger is not established.) The crater is clearly visible on the surface as light and dark brown concentric rings. Stratigraphically, the oldest formation exposed in the center of the dome is the

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...

Organ Rock Shale The Organ Rock Formation or Organ Rock Shale is a formation within the late Pennsylvanian to early Permian Cutler Group and is deposited across southeastern Utah, northwestern New Mexico, and northeastern Arizona. This formation notably outcrops ar ...

. This is overlain by the Permian

White Rim Sandstone The White Rim Sandstone is a sandstone geologic formation located in southeastern Utah. It is the last member of the Permian Cutler Group, and overlies the major Organ Rock Formation and Cedar Mesa Sandstone; and again overlies thinner units o ...

. Both are sometimes considered part of the

Cutler Formation The Cutler Formation or Cutler Group is a rock unit that is exposed across the U.S. states of Arizona, northwest New Mexico, southeast Utah and southwest Colorado. It was laid down in the Early Permian during the Wolfcampian epoch. Descri ...

. Overlying these are the

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

Moenkopi Formation The Moenkopi Formation is a geological formation that is spread across the U.S. states of New Mexico, northern Arizona, Nevada, southeastern California, eastern Utah and western Colorado. This unit is considered to be a group in Arizona. Part ...

(which is bounded top and bottom by

unconformities An unconformity is a buried erosional or non-depositional surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval ...

), the Chinle Formation, the cliff-forming

Wingate Sandstone The Wingate Sandstone is a geologic formation in the Glen Canyon Group of the Colorado Plateau province of the United States which crops out in northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. Geology Wingate Sandstone is particularly ...

, the

Kayenta Formation The Kayenta Formation is a geological formation in the Glen Canyon Group that is spread across the Colorado Plateau province of the United States, including northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. Traditionally has been suggested ...

, and the crossbedded Triassic-Jurassic

Navajo Sandstone The Navajo Sandstone is a geological formation in the Glen Canyon Group that is spread across the U.S. states of southern Nevada, northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, and Utah as part of the Colorado Plateau province of the United States.Anonymo ...

.Geologic Map of Canyonlands National Park and Vicinity, Utah, 1982 Edition, by P. W. Huntoon et al. Scale: 1:62500 (map)

Structurally A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

, the dome is anomalous. Most of the rock strata of Canyonlands National Park are flat-lying or gently dipping with the exception of a series of linear salt walls and associated synclines. Upheaval Dome is a circular, dome shaped structure. Some strata near the center are nearly vertical in orientation. Dips of 70 degrees have been measured in the Kayenta Formation on the U-shaped plateau surrounding the center of the structure. A

syncline In structural geology, a syncline is a fold with younger layers closer to the center of the structure, whereas an anticline is the inverse of a syncline. A synclinorium (plural synclinoriums or synclinoria) is a large syncline with superimpose ...

surrounds the center, where the axis forms a complete circle approximately two miles across. The syncline is primarily visible in the Navajo Sandstone. Another

anticline In structural geology, an anticline is a type of fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex up in which the hinge or crest is the ...

has been mapped to the north of this ring syncline, which is also concentric with it. There were two well-known theories as to the origin of the upheaval. One theory was the upheaval is a

, an anticlinal structure which occurs when a salt diapir is pushed up by the weight of overlying rocks. The other theory is an

eroded Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is disti ...

impact crater, like the much younger

Meteor Crater Meteor Crater, or Barringer Crater, is a meteorite impact crater about east of Flagstaff and west of Winslow in the desert of northern Arizona, United States. The site had several earlier names, and fragments of the meteorite are official ...

near Winslow, Arizona. In the 1990s, a team of

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

s and

seismologists Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...

from

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

and the

University of Nevada The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12 ...

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

performed a detailed study that included

seismic refraction Seismic refraction is a geophysical principle governed by Snell's Law of refraction. The seismic refraction method utilizes the refraction of seismic waves by rock or soil layers to characterize the subsurface geologic conditions and geologic st ...

and rock mapping. The results of this study support the

meteorite A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the ...

theory.Earth Impact DB - Upheaval Dome
/ref> In 2008, it was announced that

shocked quartz Shocked quartz is a form of quartz that has a microscopic structure that is different from normal quartz. Under intense pressure (but limited temperature), the crystalline structure of quartz is deformed along planes inside the crystal. These pl ...

was discovered, although this was very limited and the origin remains unresolved.

Gallery

Image:Upheaval_Dome_air.jpg, Oblique air photo facing southeast from about 30,000 ft. Image:Upheaval Dome.jpg, Upheaval Dome as seen from the rim of the crater. Image:Upheaval_Syncline_campsite.jpg,

Syncline In structural geology, a syncline is a fold with younger layers closer to the center of the structure, whereas an anticline is the inverse of a syncline. A synclinorium (plural synclinoriums or synclinoria) is a large syncline with superimpose ...

visible from the Syncline Campsite on the northwest side of the structure, facing south Image:Upheaval_center.jpg, Steeply dipping rock strata near the center of the dome

References

External links

Upheaval dome on PASSC Earth Impact Database

* ttp://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/03/11/upheaval-dome-utah-print.html Shocked Quartz discovery
Aerial Exploration of the Upheaval Dome impact crater
{{Impact cratering on Earth Impact craters of the United States Jurassic impact craters Canyonlands National Park Landforms of San Juan County, Utah