MAPPING AND TERRAIN ANALYSIS OF UTAH’S ROCK GLACIERS WITHIN THE COLORADO PLATEAU PHYSIOGRAPHIC PROVINCE

Rock glaciers are alpine geomorphic landforms created from the movement of subsurface ice. In the American West it is increasingly critical to account for all water sources that contribute to Summer baseflow. Rock glaciers may play a significant role in headwater hydrology as they are a hidden source of water storage. Mapping rock glaciers is a necessary first step to understand the amount of water they hold and how that water varies across the state. In addition, rock glaciers may pose a risk for geologic hazards through the transportation of loose rock and over-steepened slopes in mountainous areas. The Colorado Plateau is a physiographic province located in the four corners region of the Western United States. Despite being an arid climate, there are abundant periglacial features, as peak elevations in the Colorado Plateau reach 3,960 m. Rock glaciers are found in many of these mountainous areas that cannot sustain glacier ice without overlying talus and debris, which protects the ice from ablation. This research, done in collaboration with the Utah Geological Survey and the University of Utah, will culminate in creating a publicly accessible database published through the Utah Geological Survey, with funding provided by Utah Valley University and the USGS EDMAP programs. Features found in the Utah section of the Colorado Plateau were mapped. To achieve this objective, we used satellite imagery available in Google Earth Pro to manually identify periglacial landforms. We followed the standard guidelines for identification found in the Rock Glacier Inventories and Kinematics and used lidar data obtained from OpenTopography and Caltopo. We conducted a preliminary analysis on the terrain characteristics, morphologies, and volume of subsurface ice of the rock glaciers found in this high elevation desert region. This data will provide insights into the role of rock glaciers in the water resources of the Colorado Plateau.