Geoantiquities are records of Earth history, in which natural landscapes preserve material evidence of geologically recent surface processes and environments. Utah's Lake Bonneville basin contains excellent examples of geoantiquities. The natural records left by Lake Bonneville (24,000-12,700 radiocarbon years or 29,000-15,000 calendar years ago) are prominent shorelines, deltas, bars, spits, and beaches. These loose, unconsolidated sediments can easily be disturbed and are vulnerable to removal and burial, particularly in areas like the Wasatch Front where growth rates are double the national average.

 

Geoantiquities are important for the following reasons:
Community Aesthetics: Geoantiquities form a picturesque landscape and natural open space (for example, Bonneville Salt Flats, Bonneville Shoreline Trail of the Wasatch Front, Stockton Bar of Tooele County, and glacial valleys and moraines of Little Cottonwood Canyon and Bells Canyon).

Community Ethics: The community can endow to future generations a window on Earth history, and a landscape preserved to enhance the quality of life.

Basic Science: Scientists use sediment records to learn what physical, chemical, and biological processes have acted in the geologically recent past. For example, studies on Lake Bonneville geoantiquities tell us about global change, past climatic conditions, and how wind and water influence sediment transport.

Applied Science: Geoantiquities help us understand geologic processes and allow us to better predict rates of change, and assess local natural hazards.

Community and Environmental Education: Geoantiquities provide people of all ages with a natural outdoor laboratory of Earth-surface history (for example, Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island, the Stockton Bar, and shorelines of the Wasatch Front).

 

The Utah Geoantiquities Heritage Program is an outgrowth of University of Utah research on the interactions of earth science in the urban landscape. Our mission is to inventory regional geoantiquities, identify those that warrant community recognition as geoantiquities heritage areas, and foster community-based geoantiquities heritage planning.

Geoantiquities heritage areas have three essential characteristics: (1) they include intact remnants of distinctive natural landscapes, (2) they contain scientifically important records of geologically recent environmental history, and (3) they are at great risk of damage or loss by consumptive land uses.

 

The future of geoantiquities lies in the complex and dynamic interactions of Earth Science, urban development, informed citizenry, and community vision. We hope that research such as ours will strengthen connections between science and the community and promote informed, wise management of geoantiquities in the urban environment.

For more information see Utah Geoantiquities Heritage Program Web Site: http://www.geog.utah.edu/geoantiquities/index.htm

Geoantiquities research by the authors is supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation (NSF grant SBR-9817777). Opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the foundation.