The purpose of this study was to determine the ecological factors existing within the chaparral community. The present status of the vegetation in a one-acre exclosure was analyzed and recorded so that subsequent improvement or eterioration might be noted. A brief history of the area, the weather, and the geology are presented. Many other aspects of the problems enumerated in the introduction need to be studied. This study provides a foundation for a more detailed study of the vegetation which may be undertaken at a future date.

This vegetational analysis is concerned with changes which have cocurred since 1949 in a mountain brush community within an exclosure in the central Wasatch Mountains. The exclosure, established in 1949, is located in Pole Canyon on lower Provo Canyon. Two major studies have been conducted previously, but it has been nine years since the last intensive work was done. Several major changes occurring during the eighteen year period are evident and are described.

An ecological study was conducted at Cascade Springs, Wasatch county, Utah from August 1965, to June 1967. The algae and aquatic moss species were determined and ecological information about these organisms was obtained. Physical data were also collected: bicarbonates, carbonates, free carbon dioxide, hydroxides, oxygen, pH, and temperature. The physical environment of the water was found to be very constant. Tests taken at the different study sites were consistently similar, not only during each day, but all year around. No great variation of any kind was found in the water. In contrast to the water environment, the topography of the spring varied greatly. Variations were noted in bottom composition, sunlight, water depth, velocity, and volume. But although Cascade Springs appears to have a variety of ecological niches, the number of species of algae and mosses were low. Twelve genera and fourteen species of algae, and ten genera and thirteen species of mosses were collected. The terrace region, both edges and pools, were occupied by all algae species. All but Vaucheria were found in the terrace pools, and all but Chara were found on the terrace edge, and none were found in the terrace pools. The only species of algae found in the spring basin were Chara and Spirogyra, and all moss species but one were found in the spring basin. The algae species were most abundant in the spring and summer months, and least abundant in the winter, although the water temperatures remained constant. The mosses were found to be perennials, and they were constant in both abundance and location. One species of algae was found unique to the spring: Plectonema tomasinianum. This was an abundant species that had not been collected elsewhere in Utah. The other species, both algae and mosses, were common in Utah.

This is a comparative study of the vegetation and soils of an exclosure in the mountain brush vegetation of the Wasatch Mountains, Utah. The exclosure was fenced and initially analyzed during the summers of 1949-1950. The study area is located in Pole Canyon in the Uinta National Forest, a few miles northeast of Provo, Utah. The dominant woody species of the vegetation in the exclosure are big toothed maple (Acer grandidentatum) and Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii). After settlement of the area in and around Provo, Pole Canyon became overgrazed by livestock. Since 1949 the area has been protected from grazing. The purpose of this study was to analyze the vegetative and environmental relationships in the exclosure and to determine any changes occurring since the initial study by comparison with the results of the preliminary study.

An analysis of the relative abundance of the prevalent species in 25 major plant communities of the Wasatch Mountains demonstrates that variation in species diversity is significantly correlated with many floral characteristics. Wind pollinated flowers decrease in abundance while animal pollinated flowers increase along the diversity gradient. Both relationships are highly significant statistically. Color diversity and species diversity are significantly and positively correlated in open communities but are not correlated in forest communities. The percent sum frequency of yellow and pink-magenta flowers decreased with increasing species diversity while blue and whitish flowers increased. Also, zygomorphic flowers and flowers in which access to the nectar supply is restricted by morphological barriers are positively correlated with species diversity. It is shown that wind pollinated flowers and entomophilous open flowers are significantly more abundant than animal pollinated flowers whose nectaries are morphologically restricted, Theoretical explanations are offered for these relationships.

No description available.

Though stratigraphic correlations are abundant in the Cordilleran basin-fill, they rarely include along-strike transects providing a spatio-temporal sense of deformation, sediment-supply and subsidence. A new, high-resolution, regional strike-correlation of the Castlegate Formation reveals progressive northward-growth of the San Rafael Swell during two embryonic episodes of Laramide-style deformation in central Utah. The intrabasinal deformation-events produced gentle lithospheric-folding punctuated by erosional-truncation of upwarped regions. The earliest episode occurred at 78 Ma in the southern San Rafael Swell likely causing soft-sediment deformation and stratal-tilting. Following this the alluvial-plain was leveled and rapid, extensive-progradation took place. A second episode, at 75 Ma, where deformation was focused in the northern San Rafael Swell, also caused sediment-liquefaction and erosional beveling. The stratal-tilting and sediment-liquefaction is attributed to seismicity induced by basal-traction between a subducting flat-slab and continental-lithosphere. The south-to north time-transgression of uplift is spatio-temporally consistent with NE-propagation of an oceanic-plateau subducted shallowly beneath the region.

No description available.

A detailed structural study of Rock Canyon (near Provo, Utah) provides insight into Wasatch Range tectonics and fold-thrust belt kinematics. Excellent exposures along the E-W trending canyon allow the use of digital photography in conjunction with traditional field methods for a thorough analysis of Rock Canyon's structural features. Detailed photomontages and geometric and kinematic analyses of some structural features help to pinpoint deformation mechanisms active during the canyon's tectonic history. Large-scale images and these structural data are synthesized in a balanced cross section, which is used to reconstruct the structural evolution of this portion of the range. Projection of surficial features into the subsurface produces geometrical relationships that correlate well with a fault-bend fold model involving one or more subsurface imbrications. Kinematic data (e.g. slickenlines, fractures, fold axes) indicate that the maximum stress direction during formation of the fault-bend fold trended at approximately 120°. Following initial thrusting, uplift and development of a thrust splay produced by duplexing may have caused a shift in local stresses in the forelimb of the Rock Canyon anticline leading to late-stage normal faulting during Sevier compression. These normal faults may have activated deformed zones previously caused by Sevier folding, and reactivated early-stage decollements found in the folded weak shale units and shaly limestones. Movement on most of these normal faults roughly parallels stress directions found during initial thrusting indicating that these extensional features may be coeval with thrusting. Other zones of extension and brittle failure produced by lower ramp geometry appear to have been activated during Tertiary Basin and Range extension along the Wasatch Fault Zone. Slickenline data on these later normal faults suggest a transport direction of nearly E-W distinguishing it from earlier events.

The problem of whether Landsat 7 data could be used to delineate areas prone to mass movement, particularly debris flows and landslides, was examined using three techniques: change detection in NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), change detection in band 5, and the tasseled cap transformation. These techniques were applied to areas that had recently experienced mass movement: Layton, Davis County and Alpine, Spanish Fork Canyon and Santaquin, Utah County. No distinctive spectral characteristics were found with any of these techniques with two possible explanations: 1. That despite improved spatial resolution in Landat 7 over its predecessors and improved digital image processing capabilities, the resolution is still too low to detect these characteristics or 2. That the aspects of a slope that make it prone to mass movement are undetectable at any resolution by remote sensing. Change detection in NDVI examined if areas that remained unchanged (defined as < 5% change) between August 14, 1999 and October 17, 1999 correlated to areas that are prone to mass movement. There was no correlation. Change detection in band 5 was examined between August 14, 1999 and October 17, 1999, October 17, 1999 and May 28, 2000, and August 14, 1999 and May 28, 2000. An interesting result is that the Shurtz Lake and Thistle landslides (Spanish Fork Canyon) showed changes of greater than 30% during August 14, 1999 - October 17, 1999 and October 17, 1999 - May 28, 2000. These changes were limited to these landslides and not seen in abundance in surrounding areas. A similar localization of 30% change was seen in the Cedar Bench landslide (Layton) for the same time periods. There were no other correlations. The tasseled cap ransformation shows areas of dominate greenness, soil brightness or wetness. None of these factors had distinctive patterns in the areas studied when compared to surrounding, mass movement-prone areas so no conclusions can be drawn about the utility of the tasseled cap transformation as it relates to areas of potential mass movement.