Desert Mountain

Chemospatial Mapping of an Igneous Intrusive Complex

The Desert Mountain area of west-central Utah contains an ususal group of granites and volcanic rocks that preserve a record of how magma moved, cooled, and solidified beneath an ancient volcano about 30 million years ago. This project will created the first modern geologic map of the area by combining field observations with laboratory analyses of the rock and zircon crystals, which act as natural time capsules recording when the rocks formed and how the magma changed over time. The results will improve our understanding of how granites are built beneath volcanoes and whether volcanic and plutonic rocks originated from the same magma system. Because granite chemistry also influences the concentration of critical elements such as the rare earth elements, lithium, and beryllium, this project will improve models used to explore for critical mineral resources. The project will also provide hands-on training for undergraduate and graduate students in geologic mapping, laboratory analysis, and scientific communication, while making the resulting geologic maps and geochemical data freely available for use by scientists, land managers, and the public.

This work is supported by the U.S. Geolgoical Survey EDMAP Program in collaboration with the Utah Geological Survey.