Hydrogeologic Study of the Bryce Canyon City Area, Including Johns and Emery Valleys, Garfield County, Utah

Groundwater resources development and the threat of future drought in Garfield County, southwestern Utah, prompted a study of groundwater quality and quantity in the environs of Bryce Canyon National Park and Bryce Canyon City in Johns and Emery Valleys. Water quality, water quantity, and the potential for water-quality degradation are critical elements determining the extent and nature of future development in the valley. The community of Bryce Canyon City is an area of active tourism and, therefore, of potential increase in growth (likely from tourism-related development). Groundwater exists in Quaternary valley-fill and bedrock aquifers (the Tertiary Claron Formation and Cretaceous sandstone). Increased demand on drinking water warrants careful land-use planning and resource management to preserve surface and groundwater resources of Johns and Emery Valleys and surrounding areas that may be hydrologically connected to these valleys including Bryce Canyon National Park.

In Our Backyard: Perceptions About Fracking, Science, and Health by Community Members

Unconventional oil and gas (UOG) extraction (fracking) has increased in the United States, as well as interest in the associated risks and benefits. This study’s purpose was to qualitatively examine residents’ perceptions about UOG development in their community. Fifteen interviewees involving residents of Garfield County, Colorado, a drilling-dense region, were transcribed and analyzed. The study found six themes: (1) health concerns, both human and animal, (2) power struggles between government and industry/between industry and residents, and (3) perception and some acceptance of increased risk. Less common themes were (4) reliance on science to accurately determine risk, (5) frustration with potential threat and loss of power, and (6) traffic and safety concerns. Community perceptions of UOG development are complex, and understanding the position of community members can support the need for additional public health research and impact assessments regarding community exposures from UOG drilling operation exposures.

Rinded, Iron-Oxide Concretions in Navajo Sandstone Along the Trail to Upper Calf Creek Falls, Garfield County

Concretions are hard rock masses, usually spheroidal, but commonly oblate or discoidal, that are formed by strongly localized precipitation of minerals in the pores of an otherwise weaker sedimentary rock (see Bates and Jackson, 1980, for a more extensive definition). The iron-oxide-rich concretions in the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone in southern Utah are unusual in two fundamental ways. First, they are cemented by iron oxide (Fe2O3, or Fe(OH)3); most other concretions are cemented by silica (SiO2), calcite (CaCO3), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2), or siderite (FeCO3). Second, unlike other concretions, they are not strongly cemented throughout, but instead, the iron oxide is concentrated in a very strongly cemented, sharply defined, exterior rind or shell. In the smaller concretions, the entire interior lacks iron-oxide cement, and is similar to the rock outside the concretion; in the larger concretions, there is a central zone that is strongly cemented by iron oxide, but the sandstone between the central core and the rind has no iron-oxide cement.