The Little Cottonwood Canyon, which is part of the Wasatch Mountain range,

has seen
many different things. From being on the edge of a fault line and having fault scarps
to having
multiple rock formations. It also has had human and glacial influence on the way its
shaped and
whats inside of the mountain today. Well talk about each one of those subjects
more in depth
later on in this paper.
This canyon being on the Wasatch fault gives it fault scarps after more
intense
earthquakes. The Wasatch fault being 343 km long is the longest, active normal
fault line in the
U.S. (Machette, M. N., Personius, S. F., Nelson, A. R., Schwartz, D. P., & Lund, W. R.
(1991)).
A normal fault is when the blocks of crust slip past each other with mostly vertical
movement.
The Salt Lake City segment of the fault line, on average, should have an earthquake
every 1,200
years (Sandra N. Eldredge (1996)). The last earthquake that this segment has seen
was about
1,000 years ago, meaning this segment is getting close to overdue. There are a few
fault scarps
that I observed from the park on the mountains (picture 1). There was also graben
(land that is
dropped between two opposing fault scarps) from two different scraps on the
mountain ridge
right behind the one that was in front of me. This tells me that the scarps have been
made from
different earthquakes in this area. Overall, the Wasatch fault has had at least 27
earthquakes with
a magnitude of 6.57.5 over the past 10,000 years.
Around the canyon mouth are multiple stocks & rock formations, most, if not
all, being
visible. The stocks are made up of plagioclase, quartz, orthoclase, biotite, and
hornblende or, as

you may know it as, granite. These stocks are dated to be about 2831 Ma old
(based on
hornblende and biotite kAr ages)(Kowallis, B. J., Ferguson, J., & Jorgensen, G. J.
(1990)). Ma
stands for million years. These stocks are on both sides of the canyon opening
(picture 3 north
side, south side not pictured), and if there wasnt any snow would probably be in
plain view.
There is also a third one thats north of the mouth, poking up out of the mountain
(picture 2).
There are two different types of rock formations that are coming out of the
mountain pretty close
to each other, but made up of different materials. The first one is made up of
Quartzite and
ShaleSlate (picture 4). The second one, slightly north of the first, is made up of
schist and gneiss
(picture 5), which suggests that the mountain used to have enough heat and
pressure (could be
from earthquakes) to make these rocks that are now on the surface.
There are various forms of evidence that shows that the mountain was once
covered by
glaciers. The first piece of evidence that I noticed immediately was the moraine of
large boulders
that cover the mountain side (picture 6). These boulders are picked up by glaciers
from the
canyons floors and walls. Even rocks from rock falls get carried on the glaciers.
Once the ice
melts, all rocks on top or in the glacier are deposited this is called a moraine. These
boulders are
made up of the same granitic rock that makes up the stocks. There was multiple
moraines on the
mountain ridge, none quite as impressive as the one pictured. The second piece of
evidence was
not as easy to notice. With the canyon opening being covered by homes, trees, and
vegetation,

you might not be able to tell right away that the canyon actually has a U shaped
mouth. This
suggests that the canyon had glacial processes (heavy mass and large volume of
glaciers)(Harper,
K. T., & Petersen, M. S.. (1990)).
In the past, the canyon was used for mining and quarrying, and is still slightly
today.
During the late 1800s, mining towns settled near the canyon. They mined the
mountain for
prosperous lead and silver. While finding what they wanted, the miners lost their
money as
quickly as they gained it the boomandbust period (Willard, J). There were other ores,
such as:
copper, zinc, and gold, that were taken from the mountain, but in minor quantities.
The rocks
mined from the quarries help make some of the more monumental buildings in Salt
Lake City.
They quarried the granitic rock at the mouth of the canyon since the 1860s. That
rock was used
in the building of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints (LDS) Temple
and Utahs
Capitol building. The mountain is still quarried today, though not as much as it used
to be, but no
longer mined.
You now know more about Little Cottonwood Canyons history and past. Such
as being
on the Wasatch fault, which is the longest active fault in the U.S. having multiple
fault scarps
that may come from different earthquakes. Also, how the Wasatch is almost
overdue for another
earthquake. The ancient granite stocks that stick out from the mountain along with
the quartzite
and shaleslate and gneiss and schist formations. The glacial processes that made
the canyon get
its U shape and deposited moraines all over the canyon range itself. Last, but not
least, the

towns that mined for silver and lead but lost their money as quickly as they earned
it, and the
quarries that help build the LDS Temple and Utahs Capitol. But what lies ahead for
Little
Cottonwood Canyon? Thats still something we will find out.