The Escalante Desert is a geographic Great Basin region and arid

desert A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

, in the

deserts and xeric shrublands Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deserts and xeric (Ancient Greek 'dry') shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth's land surface area. Ecoregions in this habitat ...

biome A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Tansley added the ...

, located in southwestern

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Geography

The Escalante Desert is northwest of Cedar City in Iron County, Utah, and extends into part of Millard County. The region spans most of Iron County, which annually has rainfall and snowfall. The Escalante region also lies primarily between State Route 56 and Route 21, as well as north and west of Interstate 15. From the Escalante Desert region's peripheral ridges, the elevation slowly declines to Lund Flats (), Escalante Valley (1440962), Lund Flats (1430016), Lund (1430015), !--replaced URL--> Beryl Junction (1437499)/ref> which has railroad tracks between Milford and Lund.

Subsidence

Near Beryl Junction () are 3 fissures formed by suspected groundwater-related subsidence caused by

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

extraction for agricultural

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

References

Deserts of Utah Great Basin deserts Geography of Iron County, Utah Geography of Millard County, Utah {{Utah-geo-stub