Timpanogos Cave National Monument 

Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 

Natural Resource Report NPS/NRPC/GRD/NRR—2006/013 

National Park Service 

U.S. Department of the Interior 

Natural Resource Program Center 
THIS PAGE: 

Chimes room - urchin, Timpanogos Cave NM. 

Photos by: NPS 
Timpanogos Cave National Monument 

Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 

Natural Resource Report NPS/NRPC/GRD/NRR—2006/013 

Geologic Resources Division 

Natural Resource Program Center 

P.O. Box 25287 

Denver, Colorado 80225 

July 2006 

U.S. Department of the Interior 

Washington, D.C.
The Natural Resource Publication series addresses natural resource topics that are of interest 

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Printed copies of reports in these series may be produced in a limited quantity and they are 

only available as long as the supply lasts. This report is also available from the Geologic 

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gre_publications) on the internet, or by sending a request to the address on the back cover. 

Please cite this publication as: 

Thornberry-Ehrlich, T. 2006. Timpanogos Cave National Monument Geologic Resource 

Evaluation Report. Natural Resource Report NPS/NRPC/GRD/NRR—2006/013. National 

Park Service, Denver, Colorado. 

NPS D-30, July 2006 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report iii

Table of Contents 

List of Figures .............................................................................................................. iv

Executive Summary ...................................................................................................... 1

Introduction ................................................................................................................... 3

Purpose of the Geologic Resource Evaluation Program ............................................................................................3

Geologic Setting .........................................................................................................................................................3

Geologic Issues............................................................................................................. 6

Introduction.................................................................................................................................................................6

Cave Management and Restoration...........................................................................................................................6

Water Issues...............................................................................................................................................................7

Slope Processes.........................................................................................................................................................8

Seismicity ...................................................................................................................................................................8

Mine Issues ................................................................................................................................................................9

Speleothems.............................................................................................................................................................10

Streamflow, Channel Morphology and Sediment Load.............................................................................................10

Paleontological Resources .......................................................................................................................................11

Wind Erosion and Deposition ...................................................................................................................................11

General Geologic Issues and Potential Research Topics.........................................................................................11

Geologic Features and Processes............................................................................. 13

Charleston Fault Zone ..............................................................................................................................................13

Cave Formation and Speleothems ...........................................................................................................................13

Map Unit Properties .................................................................................................... 22

Geologic History.......................................................................................................... 27

Glossary....................................................................................................................... 36

References................................................................................................................... 39

Appendix A: Geologic Map Graphic .......................................................................... 43

Appendix B: Scoping Summary................................................................................. 45

 

Attachment 1: Geologic Resource Evlauation Products CD 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division iv 

List of Figures 

Figure 1. Map of the major faults and other features surrounding Timpanogos Cave National Monument....................5

Figure 2. Map of Timpanogos Cave system.................................................................................................................16

Figure 3. Photograph of frostwork................................................................................................................................17

Figure 4. Photograph of mineralization and speleothems ............................................................................................18

Figure 5. Photograph of stalagtites ..............................................................................................................................18

Figure 6. A drop saturated with dissolved minerals......................................................................................................19

Figure 7. Photograph of soda straw and helictite speleothems....................................................................................20

Figure 8. Photograph of two soda straw speleothems .................................................................................................21

Figure 9. Generalized graphic overview of geologic evolution of Utah.........................................................................31

Figure 10. Geologic time scale.....................................................................................................................................32

Figure 11. Generalized cross section of American Fork Canyon. ................................................................................33

Figure 12. Major uplifts and basins present during the Pennsylvanian period .............................................................34

Figure 13. Segments of the Wasatch fault ...................................................................................................................35
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 1

Executive Summary 

This report has been developed to accompany the digital geologic map produced by Geologic 

Resource Evaluation staff for Timpanogos Cave National Monument in Utah. It contains 

information relevant to resource management and scientific research. 

Geology and geologic processes provide the foundation 

of the ecosystem at Timpanogos Cave National 

Monument. Extreme relief dominates this landscape 

where the American Fork River has cut down through 

the layers of rock concurrent with regional uplift of the 

Wasatch Mountain Range. The prominent scarp of the 

Wasatch normal fault defines the western margin of the 

Wasatch Mountains. This dynamic area is geologically 

active and understanding the geology is useful for 

predicting hazards to visitors and better preserving, 

restoring, and showcasing park resources. 

Geologic processes initiate complex responses that give 

rise to rock formations, surface and subsurface fluid 

movement, soil and cave formation. These processes 

develop a landscape that influences patterns of human 

use. The preservation of the caves, speleothems, and 

geology of Timpanogos Cave National Monument is 

important for the inspiration of wonder in visitors to the 

monument, and emphasis of geologic resources 

enhances the visitor’s experience. 

Timpanogos Cave National Monument in American 

Fork Canyon, a limestone gorge with spectacular cliffs, 

avalanche chutes, pinnacles, and caves, attracts over 

100,000 visitors every year. These visitors place 

increasing demands on the resources of the monument 

as their numbers swell. 

As the name suggests, Timpanogos Cave National 

Monument hosts some spectacular cave related 

(speleological) geologic features. Some of the principal 

geologic issues and concerns for the monument pertain 

to protecting these features. Humans have modified the 

landscape surrounding Timpanogos Cave and 

consequently have modified its geologic system. This 

system is dynamic and capable of noticeable change 

within a human life span. The following features, issues, 

and processes have a high level of geological importance 

and management significance for the monument: 

• Cave management and restoration. The monument 

was set aside to preserve and protect the caves and the 

features therein. In a dynamic cave system, changes in 

water level, water quality, air quality, humidity, 

airflow, light, etc. all have profound effects on the 

entire ecosystem and these parameters must be 

monitored to determine the best way to regulate them 

and accommodate visitors. Management is concerned 

about the changing environmental conditions and the 

effects on speleothem formation, growth, and decay. 

Management also wants to improve understanding of 

cave origins, evolution, and age. 

An effort was launched in 1993 to remove some 250 

tons of artificial fill in Hansen Cave, left from the 

construction of the tunnel connecting Hansen Cave 

with Middle Cave. This was done to restore the 

Hansen Cave Entrance to its natural state, restore 

hydrologic flow paths, and to improve the aesthetic 

quality of the room (Horrocks 1995). Restoring the 

caves to their natural condition also includes providing 

lighting which does not promote the growth of foreign 

microorganisms. 

• Water Issues. Northern Utah mountains receive on 

average 25- 30 inches of precipitation per year. Thus 

water is an abundant resource and its quality is of high 

significance. Water that does not flow as surface 

runoff, percolates through the soil and rock, 

eventually making its way along fractures and fissures 

into cavities and caves. The hydrogeologic system 

present at the monument is not well understood and 

given the dynamic nature of the equilibrium 

relationship between water and caves at Timpanogos, 

may warrant further study. 

• Slope failures and processes. Alpine environments are 

especially susceptible to slumping and landslide 

problems due to the lack of stabilizing plant growth 

and the young age of the canyon. Yearly snowmelt and 

intense seasonal storms produce runoff that 

dramatically alters the landscape, creating new hazard 

areas in the process. Road and trail construction also 

impact the slope stability. Mudstone rich units such as 

the Manning Canyon Shale are typically found in 

outcrop as slopes. 

These slopes are prone to fail when saturated. In 

addition to this hazardous situation, the more resistant 

units in the monument are exposed on precipitous 

slopes. This creates a situation exposing large blocks of 

jointed and faulted sandstone and limestone to the 

force of gravity. Rockfall and slope failure is a potential 

almost everywhere along American Fork Canyon. 

• Seismic activity. The region around Timpanogos Cave 

National Monument is seismically active. The dynamic 

Wasatch normal fault system therefore places the cave 

features at risk. The closest segment of the Wasatch 

fault is among the most rapidly moving portions. In 

addition to possibly triggering catastrophic mass 

wasting along the canyon, seismic movements may 

lead to the destruction of speleologic features and 

partial or total collapse of the caves. 

• Streamflow and channel morphology. In the climate of 

northern Utah, seasonal runoff, intense seasonal 

rainstorms of short duration, and subsequent flash 

floods in the American Fork River may impact channel 

morphology, pose a hazard to visitors, and destroy 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 2 

park facilities and roads. These seasonal events also 

result in changes in the load and deposition of 

sediment in the canyons. These changes affect aquatic 

and riparian ecosystems. Sediment loading can result 

in changes to channel morphology and flooding 

frequency. The canyons are also discharge points for 

local groundwater flow systems. 

• Overall Park Geology. The rock units present at the 

monument record the history of the region that can be 

explained in the monument’s interpretive programs. 

The Precambrian basement rocks contain layers as 

much as 3,050 m (10,006 ft) thick of quartzite and 

coarse conglomerate with some calcareous shale and 

slate interbedded. Cropping out over most of the 

region are folded Paleozoic strata. These strata are 

dissected by myriad normal, thrust, and reverse faults 

at many scales. 

Other geologic parameters and subjects such as the 

paleontology and paleoclimate of the area, wind erosion, 

and mine topics, have been identified as geologic 

management issues for Timpanogos Cave National 

Monument. 

The predominant lithologies of Paleozoic age are 

limestone and dolomite. Mesozoic age strata include 

sequences of limestone, dolomite, sandstone and shale. 

Tertiary age rocks include quartz monzonite (intrusive 

igneous rock rich in quartz), sandstones, and 

conglomerates as part of the Tibble Fork Formation. 

Pleistocene age glacial moraines and other glacial 

landforms are located in many of the high mountain 

valleys in the American Fork Canyon and composed of 

clasts of the aforementioned rock types (Mayo and 

Loucks 1995). Stratigraphic units are present at the 

monument in generally south dipping layers. The 

geomorphological processes of erosion and weathering 

created and continue to shape the caves and cliffs of the 

dramatic American Fork Canyon. Understanding the 

interaction of the rock types and the topographic 

landscape created by uplift and erosion is essential to 

assessing potential hazards and improving protection of 

the environment and visitors to the monument. The Map 

Unit Properties section of this report details the geologic 

units in the area and potential resources, concerns, and 

issues associated with each unit. 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 3

Introduction 

The following section briefly describes the regional geologic setting and the National 

Park Service Geologic Resource Evaluation program. 

Purpose of the Geologic Resource Evaluation Program 

Geologic features and processes serve as the foundation 

of park ecosystems and an understanding of geologic 

resources yields important information for park decision 

making. The National Park Service (NPS) Natural 

Resource Challenge, an action plan to advance the 

management and protection of park resources, has 

focused efforts to inventory the natural resources of 

parks. Ultimately, the inventory and monitoring of 

natural resources will become integral parts of park 

planning, operations and maintenance, visitor 

protection, and interpretation. 

The Geologic Resource Evaluation (GRE) Program, 

which the NPS Geologic Resources Division administers, 

carries out the geologic component of the inventory. 

Staff associated with other programs within the Geologic 

Resources Division (e.g., the abandoned mine land, cave, 

coastal, disturbed lands restoration, minerals 

management, and paleontology programs) provide 

expertise to the GRE effort. The goal of the GRE 

Program is to provide each of the identified 270 “natural 

area” parks with a digital geologic map, a geologic 

resource evaluation report, and a geologic bibliography. 

Each product is a tool to support the stewardship of park 

resources and is designed to be user friendly to nongeoscientists. 

GRE teams hold scoping meetings at parks to review 

available data on the geology of a particular park and to 

discuss specific geologic issues affecting the park. Park 

staff are afforded the opportunity to meet with park 

geology experts during these meetings. Scoping meetings 

are usually held for individual parks although some 

address an entire Vital Signs Monitoring Network. 

Bedrock and surficial geologic maps and information 

provide the foundation for studies of groundwater, 

geomorphology, soils, and environmental hazards. 

Geologic maps describe the underlying physical 

framework of many natural systems and are an integral 

component of the physical inventories stipulated by the 

NPS in its Natural Resources Inventory and Monitoring 

Guideline (NPS- 75) and the 1997 NPS Strategic Plan. 

The NPS GRE is a cooperative implementation of a 

systematic, comprehensive inventory of the geologic 

resources in National Park System units by the Geologic 

Resources Division; the Inventory, Monitoring, and 

Evaluation Office of the Natural Resource Program 

Center; the U.S. Geological Survey; and state geological 

surveys. 

For additional information regarding the content of this 

report, please refer to the Geologic Resources Division 

of the National Park Service, located in Denver, 

Colorado. Up- to- date contact information is available 

on the GRE website 

(http://www2.nature.nps.gov/geology/inventory/). 

Geologic Setting 

The Timpanogos Cave system is located high in the south 

wall of the American Fork Canyon, about 16 km (10 

miles) northeast of the town of American Fork and 24 

km (15 miles) north of Provo. The American Fork 

Canyon area is one small part of the deeply dissected 

Wasatch Front (the western face of the Wasatch Range) 

of northern Utah. The Wasatch Front is one of the 

steepest mountain ranges on earth (Horrocks and Tranel 

1994). Rugged mountain faces and narrow, east- west 

trending, steep- sided canyons characterize the Wasatch 

Range. Due to rapid regional uplift many of the streams 

that drain the west side of the Wasatch Front have 

eroded headward, carving back their canyons, until they 

now reach the mountain crests. 

American Fork Canyon, a steep and narrow streamcut 

channel in the southern Wasatch Range of North Central 

Utah, trends east- west, subparallel approximately 32 km 

(20 miles) to a fault zone responsible for the formation of 

the Timpanogos Cave complex. Timpanogos Cave 

National Monument comprises ~0.5 square miles (~250 

acres, with an addition of 37 acres per the Timpanogos 

Interagency Land Exchange Act of 2002) of this canyon 

in the Uinta National Forest. Displayed on the walls of 

the canyon and the surrounding peaks are rocks 

illustrating the history of the area from the Proterozoic 

Eon to the present day. Although created in 1922 under 

the 1906 Antiquities Act by President William G. Harding 

(Proclamation No. 1540) to preserve the speleological 

treasures deep within the limestone, the monument also 

preserves a rich history that records the dynamic 

geologic processes that shaped Earth into its present 

morphology. The monument, formerly under 

management of the U.S. Forest Service, was included in 

the National Park Service in 1934. 

The Wasatch Range is an uplifted crustal block that 

extends approximately 200 km (125 miles) between 

Malad City, ID south to Nephi, UT. The range is 13 to 26 

km (8 to 16 miles) wide and is bounded dramatically on 

the west by the prominent scarp of the seismically active 

Wasatch Fault. The scarp, referred to as the Wasatch 

Front rises dramatically, some 2,134 m (7,000 ft) in places, 

from the valley floor below. This front separates the 

geologic province of the Basin and Range to the west 

from the Middle Rocky Mountain province to the east. 

The Wasatch Range is geologically complex (figure 1). It 

is characterized by the normal faults along which Basin 

and Range deformation occurred. Normal faults form 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 4 

when material above the fault surface drops relative to 

the rocks below the surface. These faults develop as a 

result of tensional stress in the earths crust and have 

angles of dip usually between 45- 90o. Because of this 

relatively high angle, movement along major normal 

faults often results in dramatic fault scarp surfaces. In 

addition to the Wasatch Front, this type of fault scarp is 

demonstrated in the splendid setting of Grand Teton 

National Park in Wyoming. 

There are many parallel ranges throughout the 

Timpanogos region due to the extensional tectonics 

pulling the crust apart in a roughly east- west oriented 

pattern. The Cedar, Oquirrh, and Promontory Ranges to 

the west of the Wasatch, and the Cricket Mountains, 

Pavant, and Confusion Ranges to the south and 

southwest are examples of similar parallel ranges. Basins 

such as the Tule, Snake, and Great Salt Lake Valleys to 

the west, and Cedar, and Little Valleys, and Sevier Basin 

to the southwest are typical examples of fault- bound 

basins in the Basin and Range province. 

Many westward- flowing, high- gradient, nearly parallel 

streams are dissecting the Wasatch fault scarp into 

isolated peaks separated by deep, narrow canyons. 

Mount Timpanogos is one of the more prominent of 

these isolated peaks, rising to an elevation of 3,581 m 

(11,750 ft). The slopes of the mountain descend quickly to 

the valley floor at an elevation of 1,463 m (4,800 ft). The 

north and east slopes of the mountain are punctuated by 

a roughly horizontal feature called the Sagebrush Flats, at 

2,438 m (8,000 ft). 

Timpanogos Cave System 

The cave system is composed of three caves called 

Hansen, Middle, and Timpanogos Caves. They are 

connected by a series of manmade tunnels to facilitate 

visitor access. The total combined length of the caves and 

tunnels is about 1,706 m (5,600 ft), this includes 488 m 

(1,600 ft) for Hansen Cave, 335 m (1,100 ft) for Middle 

Cave, and 884 m (2,900 ft) of Timpanogos Cave. The 

cave elevation is 2,300 m (7,546 ft) above sea level in a 

nearly vertical southern face in limestone cliffs (St. Clair 

et al. 1976). 

Understanding the geology of the Timpanogos Cave 

system, the central feature of Timpanogos Cave National 

Monument, enhances one’s understanding of the unique 

relationship between geology and the environment. The 

caves consist of high, narrow passageways and rooms 

developed along an array of minor faults. These faults are 

just a part of the much larger, complex fault structure 

near the intersection of the north- south trending 

Wasatch front and the east- west trending Uinta 

Mountain fold system to the north of Timpanogos, in 

northeastern Utah. 

The caves have formed in the Deseret Limestone and 

contain limestone speleothems and are spectacular 

examples of solution cave dissolution and precipitation 

processes. The persistent work of acidic water through 

limestone carved caves into the Wasatch Front. 

Limestone caves form along ground- water paths of 

concentrated flow. 

During the uplift of the Wasatch Range, 17 Ma, 

deformation of the Deseret Limestone along faults 

created the initial fractures and surfaces necessary to 

start the cave formation (Mayo et al. 2000). Once 

dissolution of the limestone began, the cave system 

continued to enlarge along joints, faults, and bedding 

planes in the rock until it reached its present size and 

shape. When the cave was later uplifted above the water 

table, the process of cave decoration began by 

precipitating limestone into the stalactites, columns, 

helictites, anthodites, and stalagmites that make the cave 

famous. 

From the geologic map of the Timpanogos Quadrangle 

one can see that the local geology is extremely complex 

(see Appendix A). The cave lies in an area of block 

faulting. Some blocks have been displaced nearly 305 m 

(1,000 ft). In the area around the cave, the minor faults 

within the blocks dip 15o to 20o to the south. Dipping 

sediments in the cave suggest that the entire block may 

have been tilted since cave formation (White and Van 

Gundy 1974). 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 5

Figure 1. Map of the major faults and other features surrounding Timpanogos Cave National Monument. Uplifts are aqua colored areas. 

Inset shows boundary of Oquirrh Basin relative to the state of Utah and map extent. 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 6 

Geologic Issues 

A Geologic Resource Evaluation scoping session was held for Timpanogos Cave 

National Monument May 10- 11, 1999, to discuss geologic resources, to address the status 

of geologic mapping, and to assess resource management issues and needs. The following 

section synthesizes the scoping results, in particular, those issues that may require 

attention from resource managers. 

Introduction 

Issues in this section are identified in relative order of 

resource management significance with the most critical 

listed first. Topics of general geologic interest and 

scientific research potential are presented towards the 

end of this section. 

Cave Management and Restoration 

Preserving the cave and maintaining its natural 

environment is the key resource management issue at 

Timpanogos Cave National Monument. The park’s 

mission statement includes the goal “to preserve the 

outstanding cave formation, geological processes, and 

historical values of the Timpanogos Cave System and 

associated features for the recreational and educational 

enjoyment, scientific value, and inspiration of this and 

future generations.” Information on the origins, 

evolution, and age of the caves is helpful to park 

management and interpretation. Knowledge such as fluid 

inclusion chemistry, sediment deposition rates and 

distribution, as well as the rates of growth for cave 

formations in conjunction with their size allow 

researchers to date and track the formation of the cave 

system over time. 

Cave systems are quite dynamic. Changes in water level, 

humidity, airflow, light, etc. all have profound effects on 

the entire ecosystem. Water level and humidity affect the 

myriad of speleothems in the process of forming, drop by 

drop from mineral precipitation. Light sources have 

caused invasive microorganisms to proliferate in areas of 

the caves, their presence poses a slippery hazard to 

visitors and mars the spectacular cave features. 

Determining the balance between visitor access and cave 

preservation is a difficult task. 

The resource management team at the monument is 

involved in activities aimed at restoring, preserving, and 

protecting the cave resources. Each year, Timpanogos 

Cave National Monument undertakes cave restoration 

projects that clean accumulated foreign material (mud, 

hair, lint, algae, etc.) from approximately 279 m2

 (3,000 

ft2

) of the cave. These efforts were renewed for FYs 2005 

and 2006 with additional funding. New, bat friendly 

gates were also installed in 2002- 2003. These gates will 

maintain visitor safety, cave security, and restore natural 

airflow through the cave system. In 2003, the monument 

staff began a project to monitor the cave’s microbial 

diversity via a “DNA fingerprinting” technique. In FYs 

2003- 2005, the resource management team sought to 

restore the natural drainage through the cave by 

minimizing the cave trail’s interaction with the natural 

flow paths and creating maintainable catchments to keep 

debris such as mud and sand from coating cave 

formations and decreasing water quality (Timpanogos 

Cave National Monument website 2006). 

Inventory, Monitoring, and/or Research Needs for Cave 

Management and Restoration 

• Measure the concentration of Radon in caves. 

• Continue to monitor and inventory human impacts on 

the cave resources. 

• Perform samples of fluid inclusions throughout the 

cave formations to determine a time- line of water 

chemistry useful in determining cave age. 

• Map and measure sediment thickness, type, and 

distribution to determine the timing of deposition. 

• Determine cave formation rates of growth and 

comprehensively measure the dates of speleothems 

throughout the cave system. 

• Determine how to prevent and clean up existing algae 

formation growth due to artificial light in the cave. The 

illuminated humid cave passageways are creating 

conditions optimum for microscopic life, such as algae 

and diatoms. A study by St. Clair et al. (1976) identified 

twenty- six species of diatom flora in the cave. These 

life forms obscure the speleothems and are a hazard 

when present in walkways, making them slippery. This 

makes visitor access hazardous on trails and cave 

surfaces. 

• Research and develop safe ways of lighting the cave 

without disturbing the natural environment and 

encouraging the growth of foreign organisms. 

• Determine how best to restore the natural cave climate 

while providing visitor accommodation and resource 

demands. 

• Continue to comprehensively study and monitor that 

atmospheric conditions and hydrology in the caves. 

• Study palynology and stratigraphy of sediments within 

the caves. 

• Use pressure transducer to study storms moving in and 

out of cave system to determine pneumatic 

permeability and the exchange of air within American 

Fork Canyon. 

• Monitor CO2

 concentration within the cave. 

• Study cave formation decay due to changing air and 

water chemistry. 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 7

Water Issues 

The interaction of water and geology are responsible for 

the formation of the Timpanogos Cave System. Water 

continues to play a critical role in sculpting the present 

landscape of the monument. The erosion of the steep 

American Fork watershed has cut through thousands of 

meters of rock creating the V- shaped valleys 

characteristic of the area. 

During intense seasonal thunderstorms, rain pounds 

unprotected soil, knocking apart individual soil particles 

and washing unconsolidated sediment into the canyons 

increasing sediment load and turbidity in the river. 

Rainwater also combines with organic matter in soils and 

carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to form carbonic acid, 

a weak acid. Carbonic acid is effective at dissolving 

limestone, specifically along cracks where the acidic 

water is concentrated. The dissolution process increases 

the size of the cave system with each acidic water influx. 

As the acidic solution dissolves the limestone, it becomes 

saturated with calcium carbonate. 

When the saturated ground water hits an air filled cavern 

precipitation of calcium carbonate takes place and over 

time elaborate speleothems develop. Thus there is a 

profound relationship between groundwater conditions 

and cave features. Because of this connection, water 

quality at the monument is a resource management 

concern. Potential pollution from septic systems and 

other human development must be assessed. 

Understanding the hydrogeologic system and the cave 

complex watershed of the monument is critical in 

predicting environmental (and speleological) response to 

pollution. 

Ground water flow systems in the central Wasatch Range 

of Utah can be described on the basis of rock type and 

structure (Mayo and Loucks 1995). Among these systems 

are two found in the American Fork Canyon. They are 

described as consolidated sedimentary rock systems and 

fault controlled systems. Consolidated sedimentary rock 

systems occur in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic age strata 

and the Tertiary age Tibble Fork Formation in the 

Timpanogos Cave National Monument area. Water 

discharges occur typically from bedding planes and 

minor fractures. Discharge is most common from 

carbonate and coarse clastic sequences, which overlie 

less permeable layers of shale. These systems tend to be 

seasonably stable (Mayo and Loucks 1995). 

Each of the caves has a distinct groundwater flow regime 

which in turn affects the type of speleothems found 

there. Drip rates in Hansen and Middle Caves respond 

very quickly to high intensity storms and rapid snowmelt 

due to unrestricted flow along fractures. Timpanogos 

Cave is deeper than the other two caves and has slower 

drip rates and much greater delays between surface 

recharge events and a change in drip rates. 

A study conducted in 1991 revealed that Timpanogos 

Cave hydrogeology has a larger component of bedding 

plane flow than either Hansen or Middle Caves. Hansen 

and Middle Caves are intimately connected to a larger 

shallow fracture. For the same precipitation event, peak 

drip rates occurred in Timpanogos Cave 6 months later 

than in Hansen Cave (Tranel et al. 1991). 

Many of the consolidated sedimentary rock systems in 

the American Fork Canyon are controlled by thrust and 

extension faults. The discharge rates of fault controlled 

systems are variable. Travertine deposits often occur 

concurrent with fault controlled groundwater discharge 

(Mayo and Loucks 1995). The groundwater reaching the 

caves is rich in bicarbonate, sulfate, and calcium and 

magnesium ions (HCO3- 2, SO4+, Ca2+, Mg2+). Total 

dissolved solids and pH vary considerable throughout 

the year in the caves, indicating that mineral 

precipitation also varies seasonally (Tranel et al. 1991). 

Water in the form of glacial ice has left its imprint on the 

Timpanogos story as well. The glacial sequence in the 

Timpanogos area has been the subject of only a few 

studies. Geologists have found evidence for three 

periods of glacial activity in the area based on the 

presence of moraines and other glacial till deposits and 

the degree of weathering and vegetation of those 

deposits. A large cirque, or bowl shaped depression 

where a glacier starts, exists on the slopes of Mount 

Timpanogos. Precipitation data suggest that this cirque 

could have contained the only Holocene age, also known 

as the Little Ice Age (mid 1800s), glacier in the Wasatch 

area. However, deposits found in and around the cirque 

indicate that only smaller rock glaciers, not ice glaciers, 

have been in the area since the Pleistocene ice ages 

(Anderson 1979; Anderson and Anderson 1981). 

Inventory, Monitoring, and/or Research Needs for Water 

Issues 

• Determine the nature of the cave complex watershed 

by compiling baseline watershed and cave 

hydrogeologic data. Expand upon the cave water 

quality monitoring project of FY 2003- 2004 

(Timpanogos Cave National Monument website 

2006). 

• Monitor water quality on a multiple sample location 

basis within the monument, especially drinking water 

source locations. 

• Install further wells for testing and drinking water 

access. 

• The impacts of nearby mining are unknown (see above 

heavy metal mineral deposits discussion). 

• Identify and study potential sources for groundwater 

quality impacts at the monument. 

• Install transducers and dataloggers in wells. 

• Investigate additional methods to characterize 

groundwater recharge areas and flow directions. 

• Study groundwater recharge mechanisms and shallow 

sub- surface flow in carbonate terrains in the Central 

Wasatch Range. 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 8 

Slope Processes 

The walls of American Fork Canyon have extreme 

slopes. This renders them highly dangerous because of 

the likelihood of rock falls, landslides, and avalanches. 

This issue is a major concern in areas along the canyon 

walls where structurally weaker rock units including the 

Manning Canyon Shale are present. Even stronger rock 

units, such as the Oquirrh Formation, are locally highly 

fractured due to the degree of faulting in the area making 

them a hazard in rock fall situations. 

Similarly, slumps and other forms of slope failure are 

common for units that are not necessarily associated 

with cliffs. Unconsolidated alluvium deposits for 

instance, are especially vulnerable to failure when 

exposed on a slope. The torrential rains that occasionally 

produce flash flooding at Timpanogos Cave National 

Monument also erode slopes lacking stabilizing plant 

and tree roots. The rock and soil, suddenly saturated 

with water can slip down the slope causing a huge slump 

or mudslide/flow. These conditions are also extremely 

hazardous in the winter when combined with the high 

snowfall received in the American Fork area between 

November and April. 

In a cooperative effort, the resource management at the 

park, the NPS Intermountain Region GIS Support Office, 

and the University of Denver Department of Geography, 

developed a digital terrain model (DTM) to use with the 

park’s GIS in determining a spatial rockfall hazard 

assessment. There is a high frequency of rockfall at the 

monument. Several rockfall chutes and hazard- prone 

areas along the visitor trail to the cave are well known. 

However, the DTM in conjunction with the GIS is a 

powerful tool to quantify and objectify the rockfall 

hazard. The relative hazard model uses the DTM to 

delineate rockfall paths and determine accurate, detailed 

slope dimensions while taking into account vegetation 

patterns to account for friction. Velocity of falling rocks 

can be calculated for every location in a hazard prone 

area using a mathematical equation accounting for 

friction, gravity, horizontal distance, and vertical 

distance of the rock's fall (McNeil et al. 2002). This tool 

could be expanded to cover larger areas of the 

monument and surrounding region. 

Inventory, Monitoring, and/or Research Needs for Slope 

Processes 

• Inventory avalanche chute locations and monitor 

potential hazards, relate to climate and climate change. 

• Perform an exhaustive mapping study of where 

specific snow accumulation areas are located on the 

slopes above American Fork Canyon to allow for more 

precise hazard assessment. 

• Use climate information and topographic information 

in a GIS to map areas unsuitable for recreational 

development due to avalanche danger. 

• Perform a comprehensive study of slope processes 

active at Timpanogos Cave National Monument. 

• Continue to use and refine the rockfall susceptibility 

map correlating rock unit versus slope aspect in a GIS, 

in determining future developments and current 

resource management including trails, buildings, and 

recreational use areas. 

• Monitor rockfall potential in American Fork Canyon, 

relate to slope and loose rock deposits. 

• Inventory and monitor debris flow potential near 

picnic areas, relate to slope and loose rock deposits. 

• Inventory flash flood susceptible areas, relate to 

climate and confluence areas. 

Seismicity 

The seismic potential in the monument area is high. 

Recent movement along the Wasatch fault system has 

formed fresh scarp faces, 6 to 12 m (20 to 40 ft) high, in 

unconsolidated, Quaternary age valley deposits. No 

earthquakes associated with surface rupture faulting 

have occurred along the Wasatch fault zone during at 

least the past 133 years. However the recurrence interval, 

or time between major seismic events, for the Wasatch 

fault zone is estimated between 50 to 430 years (Swan et 

al. 1980). The American Fork Segment of the Wasatch 

fault has slipped an average of 1 mm/year over the past 

15,000 years. This is much higher than rates found along 

most segments of the Wasatch fault zone, which range 

from 0.1 - 0.2 mm/year (Machette 1987). Evans et al. 

(1986) measured the uplift rate of the Little Cottonwood 

Stock along the Wasatch fault to be 0.17 mm/year prior to 

10 Ma and 0.76 mm/year starting from 10 Ma to the 

present. A series of scarps can be traced from the 

southern edge of the Timpanogos Cave quadrangle to 

the mouth of Willow Canyon. Studies of fault scarp 

morphology indicate that the American Fork segment 

experienced significant movement 2,000 years ago 

(Machette 1987). 

The potential effects from seismicity in the Timpanogos 

Cave area range from damage to cave resources and park 

facilities to the triggering of mass wasting events such as 

landslides and avalanches along the steep slopes of 

American Fork Canyon. Shaking associated with seismic 

events has the potential to damage the delicate 

speleothems in the Timpanogos Cave system and cause 

localized cave collapse. Visitor safety is threatened 

during a seismic event from landslide potential along the 

roads and trails at the monument. Park infrastructure 

and visitor use areas, especially buildings, foundations, 

and waste treatment facilities are at high risk of damage 

during a seismic event. 

Increased awareness of seismicity in the Timpanogos 

Cave area would help resource management predict 

outcomes accompanying an earthquake and prepare 

potential responses. 

Inventory, Monitoring, and/or Research Needs for Seismicity 

• Perform a comprehensive study of the faulting and 

seismic processes active at Timpanogos Cave National 

Monument, taking into account rock formations, 

slope aspects, location, and likelihood of instability. 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 9

• Evaluate the stability of the Sagebrush Flats area on 

Mount Timpanogos (see Map Unit Properties table). 

The slopes of this area would likely fail in a moderate 

to large seismic event. Use this information for 

planning trails and other visitor access beneath 

rockfall prone areas. 

• Monitor seismic activity in American Fork Canyon 

and elsewhere along the Wasatch Front by 

cooperating with local agencies including the USGS 

and Utah Geological Survey. 

Mine Issues 

While there is no mining or oil and gas development in 

the monument, American Fork Canyon has been the site 

of mining interest for the past 100 years. Most of the 

mining took place in the north fork of the canyon in the 

late 1800s and early 1900s. Mines such as the Silver Bell, 

Whirlwind, Live Yankee, Queen of the West, Pittsburg, 

Globe, and Wild Dutchman produced wealth for miners 

in gold and silver (NPS and USFS 2004). For a few 

decades, lead, copper, arsenic, zinc, cadmium, and other 

metals were mined out of the nearby mountains. 

According to the NPS summary of Abandoned Minerals 

Lands, Timpanogos Cave National Monument contains 

at least three abandoned mine sites and three hazardous 

mine openings. 

Mines, including abandoned and inactive mines in the 

watershed, pose several safety, environmental, and 

health problems to the Timpanogos Cave area. Foremost 

among these is metal contamination of groundwater, 

surface water, and soils. Contamination is defined as the 

occurrence of metals exceeding probable baseline 

concentration levels prior to mining activities (Moore 

and Woessner 2000). 

Fluvial sediments can contain metals and mill waste 

materials. Tailing and other mill waste piles are 

associated with the potential for collapse and mine 

openings and dilapidated structures pose safety hazards 

(Madison et al. 1998). Timpanogos Cave National 

Monument is located downstream from many mine 

operations in the American Fork Canyon. Though a lot 

of the metals drop out of solution in the Tibble Fork 

Reservoir the potential for acid mine drainage from these 

mine features is a resource management concern for the 

park. 

Acid mine drainage is a condition resulting from the 

presence of sulfides reacting with water, in effect 

lowering the overall pH by producing sulfuric acid 

(H2

SO4), sulfate (SO4

2- ), and reduced iron (Fe2+). This 

acidity increases the solubility of some potentially 

harmful metals. These metals are dispersed from a mine 

source area by ground and surface water as dissolved 

ions, suspended sediment, or as part of the fluvial 

bedload (Madison et al. 1998). 

There are at least six components dictating the formation 

of acid mine drainage conditions (Trexler et al. 1975): 

1. availability of sulfides (including pyrite) 

2. presence of oxygen and iron- oxidizing bacteria 

3. water in the atmosphere 

4. availability of metals and minerals 

(calcite neutralizes acidity) 

5. availability of water to transport dissolved components 

6. mine and waste area characteristics 

These components, if present in mine areas upstream 

from Timpanogos Cave National Monument have the 

potential to produce acid mine drainage. Once formed, 

the acidic water dissolves other minerals including 

sulfides such as arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite, 

galena, and sphalerite as well as aluminosilicate minerals. 

Metals such as manganese, silver, arsenic, copper, 

aluminum, cadmium, mercury, lead, zinc, and iron are 

then present in the water as ions. When ion 

concentrations are high enough and pH reaches certain 

levels, minerals containing these dissolved metals begin 

to precipitate including ferric hydroxide (Fe[OH]3

) 

(Madison et al. 1998). Precipitates cloud surface water, 

coat rocks, and deposit in layers in floodplain areas and 

along streambeds. 

These precipitates can have drastic effects on aquatic life. 

Of particular concern in American Fork Canyon is a 

fragile population of native Bonneville cutthroat trout. 

Trout Unlimited (a third party) recently began mine 

reclamation activities on private lands in American Fork 

Canyon with an exhibition project allowed by the 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on landscapes 

owned or managed by the Snowbird Ski Resort. 

The cooperative order between the EPA and Trout 

Unlimited is the first time the agency has allowed a 

“Good Samaritan” to restore an abandoned mine. This 

will hopefully provide a model for federal agencies to 

enable cooperative conservation efforts with interested 

third parties. 

As part of the reclamation effort, mine wastes with 

elevated levels of heavy metals will be removed from the 

abandoned Pacific mine, Blue Rock mine, Scotchman 

No. 2 mine, and the Pacific mill – all located upstream 

from Timpanogos Cave National Monument. An 

expected result of these efforts will be an improvement 

in water quality in the ten miles of canyon streams that 

traverse the Uinta National Forest and Timpanogos Cave 

National Monument (CCC 2006). 

Inventory, Monitoring, and/or Research Needs for Mine 

Issues 

• Perform a comprehensive sampling study of the 

concentration of various heavy metals in groundwater 

and drinking water supplies. Test various stations 

along the American Fork River and its tributaries 

relative to locations of former mines. 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 10 

• Monitor heavy metal concentrations in water sources 

and in drip water within caves. 

• Monitor biota (e.g., aquatic insects) for heavy metal 

contamination. 

• Work with EPA and other third party efforts to 

remediate mine sites within the monument and in 

American Fork Canyon. 

Speleothems 

Speleothems found at Timpanogos Cave National 

Monument include unique concentrations of helictites, 

stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, and moonmilk. Some 

features are beautifully green and yellow colored by the 

trace elements including nickel and heavy metals 

dissolved in the groundwater from the rock units of the 

area. A recent mapping survey discovered a new type of 

speleothem found nowhere else on earth. A careful study 

of the speleothems in the cave would enrich a visitor’s 

experience and add to the knowledge of the speleologic 

community. 

In 2004, a project was funded at Timpanogos Cave 

National Monument to inventory cave features. Features 

included were cultural resources, rare or unusual 

speleothems, water and photo- monitoring stations, and 

lighting systems. These data were incorporated into the 

monument’s GIS system. Hopefully, this ongoing effort 

will yield data helpful to park management. A monument 

wide inventory is planned for FY 2007 to include 

features such as electrical wiring, historic artifacts, new 

formations, and park resources and facilities 

(Timpanogos Cave National Monument website 2006). 

Inventory, Monitoring, and/or Research Needs for 

Speleothems 

• Perform a comprehensive inventory of all the 

speleothems present at Timpanogos Cave National 

Monument. Review catalog of different types of 

speleothems catalogued so far for accuracy for 

inventory and monitoring purposes. 

• Determine the best way to display delicate 

speleothems without rendering them susceptible to 

damage from visitors. 

• Update information regarding speleothems including 

mineralogy for visitor displays. 

• Determine average speleothem growth rates in the 

cave system noting how they differ on the type of 

speleothem, and vary seasonally and geographically. 

• Use uranium series dating (or C14 if young enough) of 

U- Pb (if old enough) to determine when active 

speleological deposition began while extracting 

paleomagnetic data if possible; determine number of 

depositional episodes. 

• Collect drip waters to determine potential for 

precipitation (deposition) or dissolution (erosion) by 

current chemical composition parameters (pH). 

• Determine air flow directions in the cave for use in 

interpreting the direction of deposition of 

speleothems. 

• Conduct a minerals inventory within the cave 

(aragonite, calcite, etc.). 

• Correlate formation locations to geologic features 

such as faults, hydrogeologic conduits, depth, etc. 

Streamflow, Channel Morphology and Sediment Load 

Surface water is drained from Timpanogos Cave 

National Monument by the American Fork River and its 

tributaries. In the alpine climate of northern Utah, 

intense, short duration, seasonal rainstorms and 

subsequent flash floods may impact channel 

morphology. These intense seasonal events may also 

result in periodic deposits of deep sediments. Sediment 

loads and distribution affect aquatic and riparian 

ecosystems, and sediment loading can also result in 

changes to channel morphology and overbank flooding 

frequency. The Tibble Fork Dam was placed in service in 

May of 1966. Its reservoir covers 13 surface acres and was 

created to supply irrigation and recreational 

opportunities. The dam interrupts streamflow and 

catches sediment, starving downstream areas. In 

addition, heavy metals, concentrated in the water from 

acid mine drainage, precipitate out of solution into the 

sediments behind the dam. The park is interested in 

understanding the effects of removing the dam on the 

downstream ecosystem. 

The canyon is also a discharge point for local 

groundwater flow systems. The deep canyons dissect the 

region into a discontinuous series of ranges and canyons 

and disrupt local groundwater flow paths. If recharge is 

sufficient, the mountains may contain local groundwater 

flow systems that discharge as springs in the canyon. 

These springs should be inventoried and monitored for 

groundwater quality data. 

Inventory, Monitoring, and/or Research Needs for 

Streamflow, Channel Morphology and Sediment Load 

• Monitor seasonal spring locations with regard to their 

location, water quality, and maximum flow. 

• Perform channel morphology studies, about intense 

seasonal flashfloods. Consult professional 

geomorphologists regarding erosional processes. 

• Inventory current channel morphological 

characteristics. 

• Monitor changes in channel morphology. 

• Determine downstream effects of dam removal with 

GIS (layering topography, flow velocity information, 

bed structure, etc) and streamflow models. 

• Conduct hydrologic condition assessment to identify 

actual and potential “problem reaches” for prioritized 

monitoring. Once “problem reaches” are identified, 

monitor with repeat aerial photographs. 

• Research effects of land use and climatic variation on 

streamflow. 

• Investigate paleoflood hydrology. 

• Conduct research concerning ungaged stream 

sediment storage and load. 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 11

• Measure sediment load on streams of high interest for 

comparative assessment. Data will provide 

information for making management decisions. 

Paleontological Resources 

Timpanogos Cave National Monument protects more 

than just a collection of speleothems, it contains a record 

of prolific ancient life. The oldest fossils are trace fossils 

from the Precambrian age Mutual Formation. These are 

among the oldest evidence of life in Utah. Fossils at the 

monument include ostracodes, plants, corals, 

brachiopods, trilobites (Olenellus), algae, and crinoids in 

the Cambrian Maxfield Limestone, Ophir Shale, and the 

Devonian/Mississippian age Fitchville Formation. The 

cave supporting unit, the Mississippian Deseret 

Formation, contains a variety of fossilized marine 

invertebrates, including syringoporoid corals and 

brachiopods (Santucci 2000). 

More recent evidence of life comes from packrat 

middens. Middens were excavated from several 

locations in and near the cave system including Organ 

Pipe Room, Hidden Mine Cave, and Boneyard, as well as 

a test site in the Grotto. At least two species of packrat, 

Neotomacinera and Neotoma sp. were identified (NPS 

1999). The middens contained other paleontological 

remnants found in the cave system including 11 species of 

mammals (Santucci 2000). 

A comprehensive, formal inventory of the 

paleontological resources has yet to be completed for the 

monument. These preserved specimens should be 

protected and catalogued for scientific study, future 

generations, and increased visitor appreciation of the 

entire monument. 

Inventory, Monitoring, and/or Research Needs for 

Paleontologic Resources 

• Perform a comprehensive study of the paleontologic 

resources at Timpanogos Cave National Monument. 

• Compile an inventory of all paleontologic specimens 

present in the caves and rock formations exposed at 

the monument. 

• Attempt to determine the locations of paleontologic 

specimens removed from the monument as part of 

private collections to obtain an accurate inventory. 

• Draw visitor attention to the fossil resources at 

Timpanogos Cave with graphics, brochures, and 

exhibits. 

• Use fossils and speleothems to determine 

paleoclimate. 

Wind Erosion and Deposition 

In addition to water, wind is a major force that can 

redistribute soil and soil resources (e.g., litter, organic 

matter, and nutrients) within and among ecosystems. 

Erosion and deposition by wind is important at 

Timpanogos Cave National Monument and can be 

accelerated by human activities. Accelerated losses of soil 

and soil resources by erosion can indicate degradation of 

ecosystems because ecosystem health is dependent on 

the retention of these resources. In addition, wind 

erosion and sediment transport may be strongly 

impacted by land- use practices outside the monument. 

Because park management practices limit or prohibit 

off- road travel, human impacts within the monument 

primarily are associated with off- trail hiking in high- use 

areas. 

Inventory, Monitoring, and/or Research Needs for Wind 

Erosion and Deposition 

• Monitor movement of soil materials. 

• Investigate ecosystem consequences of movement. 

• Investigate natural range of variability of soil 

movement in relation to landscape configuration and 

characteristics. 

General Geologic Issues and Potential Research Topics 

Timpanogos Cave National Monument is a geologic 

park. The importance of geologic resources to the 

monument is identified in the Annual Performance Plan. 

Sedimentary rock layers provide geologists with 

information to interpret the rock’s provenance, 

depositional setting, paleogeography, diagenetic history, 

and the tectonic setting present when the sediments 

comprising the rock were deposited. Interpretations are 

based on many factors, including the mineralogy 

(composition) and texture of the rock, and sedimentary 

structures (e.g., cross- bedding). The fossil record 

contained within the rocks often best defines 

stratigraphy, referring to the rock’s age, distribution, and 

position relative to other rock units (Prothero and 

Schawb 1996). 

The thick stack of well- exposed rock layers present in 

American Fork Canyon contains an incredibly vast 

sedimentologic and stratigraphic record. The limestones 

in particular are rich in fossil evidence of past life. 

Understanding these features is vital to understanding 

the natural history of Timpanogos Cave National 

Monument. 

Geomorphological processes continue to shape the 

landscape at the monument. Ongoing research about 

these processes could help fill in gaps in understanding 

of their role in the monument. Bringing attention to 

these processes in the interpretive programs at 

Timpanogos Cave National Monument will likely enrich 

visitor understanding and appreciation of the parks 

unique resources. The American Fork Canyon and River 

are an example of a steep- sided valley cut by fast moving 

water through the rapidly uplifting Wasatch Range in 

north- central Utah. Erosion has kept pace with rapid 

uplift and as a result the amount of sediment carried by 

the American Fork River is immense. These deposits are 

a vast potential resource as sand and gravel, however, 

they also pose a threat when undercut or exposed on 

high slopes. 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 12 

Inventory, Monitoring, and/or Research Needs for General 

Geologic Issues and Potential Research Topics 

• Perform rock color (including speleothems) studies. 

• Identify unconformity- bounded stratigraphic 

packages in order to better define the depositional 

systems present in the past. 

• Continue the study and implementation of geographic 

information systems (GIS) technology for 

interpretation, resource management, and 

maintenance areas of park management through 

interpretive mapping, 3- D visualization, a virtual field 

trip, and surface rockfall hazard assessment (McNeil 

et al. 2002). 

• Develop more graphics and brochures emphasizing 

geology. These should target the average enthusiast. 

• Determine age of canyon cutting using apatite fission 

tracks for peaks and surface exposure ages for 

minimum age of canyon from the exposed flatirons. 

• Date small vugs in other stratigraphic units for timing 

of deposition; use isotopic composition of CO3 

minerals to determine source (hydrothermal or other). 

• Use resistivity to locate cavities in other stratigraphic 

units 

• Conduct a detailed study of fractures, faults, and 

bedding within the area. 

• Conduct detailed mapping of karst terrain features in 

both the Deseret limestone and other limestone 

formations in American Fork Canyon (see Geologic 

Features and Processes section below). 

• Perform a comprehensive study of the sediment 

deposition processes active at Timpanogos Cave 

National Monument, taking into account rock 

formations, sediment type, slope aspects, location with 

respect to trails, structures, and facilities, the 

likelihood of instability, etc. 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 13

Geologic Features and Processes 

This section provides descriptions of the most prominent and distinctive geologic features 

and processes in Timpanogos Cave National Monument and vicinity. 

Charleston Fault Zone 

An important structural feature in the southern Wasatch 

is the Charleston Thrust Fault system. It forms the 

boundary between rocks of the thick and thin facies of 

the Carboniferous (a name referring to the 

Mississippian- Pennsylvanian Periods) for many 

kilometers northeast and east of Mount Timpanogos. 

The overriding block moved so far eastward on the fault 

that widely dissimilar sections of sedimentary rocks were 

brought together. Indeed, in the fault’s hanging wall, the 

combined thickness of Upper Mississippian, 

Pennsylvanian, and Permian strata is ten times thicker in 

the vicinity of Mount Timpanogos and in the nearby 

Oquirrh Mountains, than in the part of the Wasatch 

Mountains carved from the fault’s footwall. The rocks 

above the fault (Great Blue Limestone, Manning Canyon 

Shale, and Oquirrh Formation), called the thick facies by 

Baker and Crittenden (1961), are the result of essentially 

continuous deposition during Late Mississippian, 

Pennsylvanian, and Permian time. The rocks of 

comparable ages now in the footwall, and called the thin 

facies (Doughnut Formation, Round Valley Limestone, 

and Weber Quartzite), appear to be the result of slower, 

and perhaps intermittent deposition (Baker and 

Crittenden 1961). 

In addition to the large thrust fault, the Charleston 

Thrust zone also includes an east- west trending corridor 

of faults and folds. Structural analysis and mapping in 

American Fork Canyon demonstrates that the zone 

contains an array of low- angle thrust faults and highangle reverse (faults with the hanging wall being pushed 

up relative to the footwall typically at angles greater than 

~30o) and normal faults. From local cross cutting 

relationships, it appears the thrust faults formed first, 

followed by reverse faults and some normal faults, and 

finally by a majority of normal faults, a few of which 

reactivated reverse fault surfaces. The overall pattern of 

faulting and folding in the area indicate that the zone is a 

left- lateral strike- slip (analogous to the San Andreas 

Fault of California where blocks slide past each other 

along a fault surface) system superimposed on a 

preexisting imbricate thrust fan (Paulsen and Marshak 

1998). 

Movement on the Charleston Thrust appears to have 

occurred in the Late Cretaceous- Tertiary time Sevier - 

Laramide Orogeny. Its surface trace is overlapped east of 

the Wasatch Mountains in the Uinta Basin by rocks of 

earliest Tertiary age, placing a latest age bracket on the 

last fault movements in the area (Baker, Huddle, and 

Kinney 1949; Baker and Crittenden 1961; Paulsen and 

Marshak 1998). 

The trace of the Charleston Fault in the Timpanogos 

Cave Quadrangle is believed to lie concealed in the 

hanging wall of the Deer Creek Fault, an east- west 

trending, south- dipping, mid- Tertiary normal fault 

which crosses the quadrangle near its northern 

boundary. All but a small area in the northeast corner of 

the Timpanogos Cave quadrangle is therefore occupied 

by rocks of the upper plate of the Charleston Fault, 

characterized by the thick facies. 

Cave Formation and Speleothems 

The geologic history of the caves at Timpanogos began 

approximately 340 million years ago (Ma) with the 

deposition of the Deseret Limestone. After this 

deposition, the deformation, or faulting and folding, 

associated with the Sevier and Laramide orogenies 

created the linear surfaces necessary to concentrate 

limestone dissolution. About 17 Ma, the Wasatch Range 

was uplifted and created apertures or openings along the 

preexisting surfaces, producing the necessary space for 

cave formation. These fractures acted as preferred 

conduits for the movement of acidic groundwater, deep 

below the surface, dissolving the rock slowly and 

creating larger and larger openings. 

Once the caves formed, minerals dissolved in the 

saturated water began to precipitate, drop by drop, to 

create the spectacular array of speleothems, or cave 

formations, present at Timpanogos Cave National 

Monument. 

Bullock (1942) described three distinct geological epochs 

of cave formation for Timpanogos Cave. The first is the 

faulting phase where the preliminary fissures were 

formed to focus the second phase or excavational epoch 

wherein water dissolves rock away along the fissures. 

Three faults were involved and all indications point to 

recent (in geologic time) movement along them (St. Clair 

et al. 1976). The structural orientations of Hansen and 

Middle Caves are the same, N55oE, whereas the 

orientation of Timpanogos Cave is 10o northward from 

the other two, N45oE. This indicates that Hansen and 

Middle Caves were most likely developed along the same 

set of faults whereas Timpanogos Cave was developed 

along a different fracture (White and Van Gundy 1974). 

Dissolution was accomplished by pirating of surface 

water streams infiltrating the fractures within the rock, 

and groundwater flowing downslope focused along the 

linear features (St. Clair et al. 1976). The third and final 

phase of ongoing cave development involves the 

deposition of sediments and speleothems in the caves. 

The caves consist mainly of high, narrow passageways in 

a linear arrangement, described below (figure 2). The 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 14 

caves are somewhat less developed and excavated than 

might be expected in a typical karst landscape, the reason 

for this could be the high concentration of dolomite in 

the Deseret Limestone around the formation of the cave. 

Dolomite dissolves much slower than pure limestone 

(White and Van Gundy 1974). Other reasons could be a 

lack of sufficient water or properly oriented fractures for 

dissolution. Additional rooms may remain to be 

discovered in the Timpanogos cave system. 

The caves are composed of a variety of morphologies 

which indicate their origin in relation to the water table. 

Vadose origin (above the water table) and phreatic origin 

(below the water table) cave passages display different 

features as a function of the role of thoroughgoing water 

movement. Vadose origin passages show features 

indicative of ephemeral, fast moving water such as 

waterfall shafts, stream slots and meanders, small 

scallops, and directionality of passages to maintain a 

consistent gradient. Phreatic origin passages, on the 

other hand, show rounded cross sections, no preferred 

directionality of passages, an absence of sediment 

derived from outside the cave, and very gentle scallops 

indicative of slow water movement. 

The Timpanogos Cave system may show both types of 

passageways, though a vadose origin is questionable. 

Scallop development in the caves indicates an 

approximate direction of water flow opposite that of the 

nearby American Fork River, possibly indicating that the 

caves formed at a sufficient depth, such that both the 

location and direction of flow in the American Fork 

River had no apparent bearing on cave development. 

Karst Landforms 

Karst landscapes, or those formed by the dissolution of 

limestone, occupy nearly 15% of the Earth’s land area. 

The term karst derives from the Slavic kars, which means 

“a bleak, waterless place.” (Summerfield 1991). Karst 

topography forms in carbonate or gypsum areas where 

surface water and groundwater dissolve the rock, 

forming sinkholes and caves similar to the topography 

found in Florida today (Graham et al. 2002). 

Dissolution is possible when there is enough subsurface 

water flow to remove dissolved bedrock and keep 

undersaturated water in contact with the soluble walls. 

Dissolution rates vary directly with flow distance, 

chemical saturation, and temperature and inversely with 

initial fracture width, discharge, gradient and pressure of 

carbon dioxide in solution. An average maximum rate of 

dissolution, or wall retreat, is 0.01 - 0.1 cm/year. 

Solutionally enlarged high- angle faults tend to produce 

fissure- like passages with lenticular cross sections and 

very angular intersections, hence Timpanogos cave is an 

angular karst feature (Palmer 1991). The cave is angular, 

but does not vary much in elevation; the maximum 

elevation difference between the mouth of Hansen Cave 

to the southwest end of Timpanogos is only 19 m (61 ft) 

(White and Van Gundy 1974). 

There are some alluvial sediments deposited in flat beds 

within the caves about 2.4 m (7.9 ft) thick (St. Clair et al. 

1976). These sediments are primarily sand and yellow silt 

(White 1971). 

In addition to the cave at Timpanogos National 

Monument, the landforms of the Wasatch Mountains 

provide unique examples of alpine karst landforms. 

There is little soil cover on the precipitous slopes of 

American Fork Canyon and bare rock ledges are 

common, making the exposure of the bedrock geology 

extremely apparent (White and Van Gundy 1974). Less 

soil is available to pick up carbon dioxide, but the colder 

temperatures at this altitude allow more solubility of 

carbon dioxide into the groundwater dissolving the rock 

into karst landforms (Jasper, personal communication 

2006). 

At the high altitude of Mt. Timpanogos, rinnenkarren 

(lit. German for truck ruts, solutional features carved on 

limestone faces like furrows) and pinnacle karren 

(solution furrows with intermittent pillars), as well as 

solutional pans (dissolved depressions) are forming in 

the Bridal Veil Falls Limestone of the Oquirrh Group 

during snow melt. 

The Deseret Limestone, in addition to hosting the cave 

system, also supports a pinnacle karst landscape with a 

relief of several meters (tens of feet) along the canyon 

walls. The rough pinnacle surfaces indicate that this may 

be a remnant of Pleistocene climatic conditions because 

they are weathering rapidly under current conditions 

(White 1971; White and Van Gundy 1974). Other 

carbonate units at Timpanogos Cave National 

Monument, the Maxwell, Fitchville, and Gardison 

formations do not display much solutional sculpturing 

(White and Van Gundy 1974). 

Cave Formations 

Present in the caves are stalactites, stalagmites, drapery, 

flowstones and other drip stones in a dizzying array of 

shapes and configurations. Two minerals, calcite and 

aragonite, make up the majority of the speleothems 

ranging from stalagmites, stalactites, and draperies to the 

delicate and intricate anthodites, helictites, soda straws, 

and frostwork (figure 3). 

Trace elements such as nickel, iron, and manganese, play 

the role of artist in the caves, splashing shades of green, 

yellow, orange, brown, pink, and black in otherwise 

white minerals. However, it is the tremendous diversity 

and number of helictites which makes the Timpanogos 

Cave system special. Helictites are small speleothems 

which twist and turn into strange, fantastical shapes as 

they grow from the cave walls. 

The Timpanogos Cave complex is exceptionally well 

mineralized (figures 4 and 5). More than 42 different 

types of cave formations have been identified (Horrocks 

and Tranel 1994). The walls display intricate sculpturing 

with common wall and ceiling pockets. In addition to 

this sculpturing, incredible speleothems decorate the 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 15

cave walls. Even the grandest speleothems begin with a 

single drop of water saturated with dissolved minerals 

(figure 6). 

The usual calcite dripstone deposits give way to complex 

helictites and other erratic forms (White 1971). Sample 

analysis revealed that only three minerals are responsible 

for the variety of erratic speleothems found in the caves: 

calcite (CaCO3

), aragonite (CaCO3), and hydromagnesite 

(4MgCO3

·Mg(OH)2·4H2O) (White and Van Gundy 1974). 

Aragonite, a calcium carbonate mineral, is common in all 

areas as needles and anthoditic forms. “Moonmilk,” 

composed of hydromagnesite, occurs locally as tufts of 

material on the tips of dripstones. 

Trace elements may lend their color to the deposits. 

Nickel in calcite is thought to be responsible for unusual 

yellow stains whereas nickel in aragonite may result in a 

unique green cast (White 1971). Trace amounts of iron 

and manganese often lend a brown or orange cast to the 

speleothems. Copper and lead also contribute to the vast 

array of colors in the caves. 

The common flowstones and dripstones are typically 

coarse- grained and white or light brown. They appear to 

be entirely composed of calcite. Monocrystalline 

dripstone or soda straw varieties are not commonly 

present in Timpanogos Cave system (figures 7 and 8). 

Flowstones in the cave complex can vary in color from 

deep chocolate brown (such as in the Cascade of Energy) 

to deep clear yellow. Some of the flowstones are faintly 

luminescent, but most are unusually lacking in 

luminescence (the emission of light by a substance that 

has received energy from an external stimulus) (White 

and Van Gundy 1974). 

There are at least 16 different types of erratic 

speleothems in the Timpanogos Cave complex. Most of 

these are different morphologies of dripstone and 

flowstone. The erratic forms are calcitic helictites, 

aragonitic helictites, globulites, and spicular aragonite. 

These forms can occur together, such as in the Chimes 

Chamber, or separately. Calcitic helictites have smooth 

exteriors, are often curved and twisted. They form 

anastamosing branches. Frostwork anthodites tend to be 

linear, jutting from the walls at all angles. They have 

rougher surfaces than the calcite helictites. Some calcite 

can be intergrown with the aragonite in these forms 

(White and Van Gundy 1974). 

Small clusters of acicular aragonite crystals, herein called, 

spicular aragonite are also known as anthodites. They 

appear as bush- like clusters of crystals radiating from a 

common “stalk.” Common in the caves are several 

globular or nodular forms of speleothems. Some appear 

as spherical lumps on the tips of other crystals. They are 

incredibly variable in their morphology. Also found 

tipping aragonite spicular crystals is a loose, white, 

powdery moonmilk composed of hydromagnesite 

(White and Van Gundy 1974). 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 16 

Figure 2. Map of Timpanogos Cave system with trails and man-made tunnels indicated (from Mayo et al. 2000). 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 17

Figure 3. Photograph of frostwork on a wall in Timpanogos Cave. Photographic is courtesy of the National Park Service. 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 18 

Figure 4. Photograph of mineralization and speleothems in a cavern of Middle Cave. Photographic is courtesy of the National Park 

Service. 

Figure 5. Photograph of stalactites in Coral Garden of Middle Cave. Photographic is courtesy of the National Park Service. 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 19

Figure 6. A drop saturated with dissolved minerals dripping from a soda straw at Timpanogos Cave National Monument. Photographic 

is courtesy of the National Park Service. 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 20 

Figure 7. Photograph of soda straw and helictites speleothems in the Timpanogos Cave. Photographic is courtesy of the National Park 

Service. 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 21

Figure 8. Photograph of two soda straws speleothems at Timpanogos Cave National Monument. Photographic is courtesy of the 

National Park Service. 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 22 

Map Unit Properties 

This section provides a description for and identifies many characteristics of the map 

units that appear on the digital geologic map of Timpanogos Cave National Monument. 

The table is highly generalized and is provided for informational purposes only. Ground 

disturbing activities should not be permitted or denied on the basis of information 

contained in this table. More detailed unit descriptions can be found in the help files that 

accompany the digital geologic map or by contacting the NPS Geologic Resources 

Division. 

Timpanogos Cave National Monument is underlain 

almost entirely by Precambrian and Paleozoic age rocks. 

Comprising the walls of American Fork Canyon and the 

surrounding peaks, these rocks are on striking display, 

indicative of the history of the area from the Proterozoic 

Eon to the present day. 

The oldest rocks of the area, the Big Cottonwood 

Formation, the Mineral Fork Tillite, and the Mutual 

Formation, provide a rare glimpse into the tectonic 

setting of the Proterozoic Eon. In the early Cambrian 

Era, the sediments deposited include the sand for the 

Tintic Quartzite, the mud for the Ophir Formation, and, 

the limy ooze that lithified into the Maxfield Limestone. 

In the Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and Permian Eras, 

the vast Oquirrh Basin formed and in this shallow 

deposits comprising the Fitchville Formation, the 

Gardison and Deseret Limestones, the Humbug 

Formation, Great Blue Limestone, Manning Canyon 

Shale, and Oquirrh Group were laid down. 

Following the late Cretaceous to early Tertiary 

compressional Sevier–Laramide orogenic events was the 

uplift of the Wasatch Range and other ranges in the Basin 

and Range Province. The Tertiary age Tibble Fork 

Formation is the result of the local basins filling with 

sediments. Pleistocene glaciation, Lake Bonneville and 

other geomorphological agents such as streams and 

landslides have all left recent, Quaternary age deposits on 

the landscape of Timpanogos Cave National Monument. 

The following pages present a tabular view of the 

stratigraphic column and an itemized list of features for 

each map unit. This sheet includes several properties 

specific to each unit present in the stratigraphic column 

including: map symbol, name, description, resistance to 

erosion, suitability for development, hazards, potential 

paleontologic resources, cultural and mineral resources, 

potential karst issues, recreational use potential, and 

global significance. 




 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 27

Geologic History 

This section highlights the map units (i.e., rocks and unconsolidated deposits) that occur 

in Timpanogos Cave National Monument and puts them in a geologic context in terms 

of the environment in which they were deposited and the timing of geologic events that 

created the present landscape. 

The rocks and geologic structures and features present in 

Timpanogos Cave National Monument record a vast 

span of Utah’s geologic history from the time before 

plants or animals existed, through episodes of mountain 

building and extension of the earth’s crust, to formation 

of the caves, and excavation of American Fork Canyon 

(figure 9). 

The oldest rocks provide a rare glimpse into the tectonic 

setting of the Proterozoic Eon (figure 10). The earliest 

event preserved and recorded by rocks exposed in the 

Timpanogos Cave quadrangle was the deposition of the 

layers of sand and mud from nearby highlands. These 

deposits now form the uppermost part of the Big 

Cottonwood Formation. This deposition was 

interrupted by a prolonged period of glaciation during 

which massive tongues of ice extended into the area and 

deposited great bodies of poorly sorted glacial till (now 

tillite, the lithified equivalent of a jumbled assortment of 

rock sizes and types, Mineral Fork Tillite). This ancient 

glaciation was followed by local tectonic uplift and 

subsequent extreme erosion. These eroded surfaces were 

overlain by deposition of red sand, mud, and gravel, 

which now constitute the Mutual formation. This 

formation is the youngest unit of the Precambrian system 

at the monument and underlies American Fork Canyon 

today (figure 11) (Baker and Crittenden 1961). 

Late Proterozoic rifting created a new continental 

margin along western North America. During the Late 

Precambrian through the Cambrian, thousands of feet of 

shallow- water, marine sediments accumulated along a 

passive plate- tectonic margin on the western side of the 

Transcontinental Arch, an upland that stretched from 

northern Minnesota southwestward across Nebraska, 

Colorado and northwestern New Mexico (Speed 1983; 

Sloss 1988; Graham et al. 2002). The area that is now 

Timpanogos Cave was approximately located along the 

shoreline in this paleoenvironment. 

Throughout the Paleozoic Era, Europe, Africa, and South 

America were approaching North America as the two 

great landmasses, Laurasia and Gondwana, collided. The 

ancient continent of Gondwana included Australia, 

Antarctica, Africa, South America, and India south of the 

Ganges River, plus smaller islands. Laurasia, located in 

the northern hemisphere, contained the present 

northern continents (Graham et al. 2002). 

In the early Cambrian Era, the region again underwent 

an uplift and erosional event. Following the uplift, the 

region subsided and an ancient sea advanced bringing 

with it the depositional environments necessary to 

capture vast amounts of sediments including the sand for 

the Tintic Quartzite, the mud for the Ophir Formation, 

and as the sea deepened, the limy ooze that lithified into 

the Maxfield Limestone. 

This progression of units records the deepening of the 

sea during progradation in the area. During this time, 

prior to the evolution of land plants, loose sediment was 

continually reworked by wind and fluvial processes. Late 

Precambrian, shallow- water sediments thicken across 

Utah, from east to west, until they reach a thickness of 

3,000- 6,000 m (10,000 to 20,000 ft) in western Utah 

(Hintze 1988; Graham et al. 2002). 

In Utah, Cambrian strata are more widely distributed 

than deposits of any other time (Hintze 1988). Thinly 

laminated stromatolitic dolomites and mottled muddy 

limestones in the Middle and Upper Cambrian of Utah 

were deposited in very shallow marine waters that 

deepened westward. A wedge of Cambrian Period 

sediments thickened from eastern to western Utah 

approaching a total thickness of 3,700 m (12,000 ft) near 

the Utah/Nevada state line (Hintze 1988). The lateral and 

vertical distribution of marine fossils, primarily trilobites, 

paints a picture of the Utah area in Cambrian times with 

a shoreline slowly migrating eastward from Nevada to 

central Utah during the Early and Middle Cambrian. By 

Late Cambrian time, marine waters covered virtually the 

entire state. The Equator ran northward through Utah, 

and limy muds accumulated under these warm- water 

conditions in much the same way as they do in the broad 

lime- mud shoal- bank area in the Bahaman Islands 

today. The Ophir Formation and Maxfield Limestone 

are present in Timpanogos Cave National Monument as 

testament to these pervasive seas (Hintze 1988). 

Whether similar deposition continued into the 

Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian periods is not known 

because no sedimentary rocks representing any of those 

periods have been found in this part of the Wasatch 

Mountains. If any were deposited, they have since been 

removed, together with much of the Cambrian age rocks 

in some places, during the long erosion interval that is 

recorded in the profound unconformity at the base of 

the Mississippian age rocks (Baker and Crittenden 1961). 

From elsewhere in Utah, rocks recording broad 

carbonate shelves evolving into open and restricted 

marine environments and later near- shore marine 

environments, fill in stratigraphic unknowns or gaps left 

in the Timpanogos area rock record. 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 28 

In the Middle Devonian Period (about 401 Ma), the first 

compressive pulses of the Antler Orogeny in the west 

and the Acadian Orogeny in the east (part of the 

Appalachian Orogeny) began, as landmasses accreted 

onto both the western and eastern borders of North 

America. 

To the west of Utah, a subduction zone formed and 

lithospheric plates collided against one another and their 

rocks were bent, buckled, folded, and faulted into a 

north- south trending pre- Rocky Mountains mountain 

range stretching from Nevada to Canada. The Roberts 

Mountains Thrust marks the easternmost thrust sheets 

generated by the Antler Orogeny. 

During orogenic events, great sheets of rocks measuring 

tens to hundreds of kilometers in width and length are 

stacked on top of one another. The weight depresses the 

land in front of the thrust sheets, or foreland, and causes 

the foreland to subside into a foreland basin. As the 

highlands to the west were thrust above sea level at the 

beginning of the Mississippian, warm shallow marine 

water flooded the foreland basin and spread over eastern 

Utah giving rise to an extensive carbonate platform. 

Found in the thick Mississippian marine limestones are 

fossils of animals that lived in normal marine salinity 

such as brachiopods, trilobites, corals, bryozoans, 

crinoids, fish, foraminifera, and conodonts (microscopic 

structures of an extinct animal that are excellent 

relative- age indicators). The sea became shallower 

during the regression that followed the Antler Orogeny, 

however, and habitats dwindled so that marine life 

became more restricted. Eastern Utah became a broad 

karst plain of shallow- marine sandstone and micrite 

(carbonate mudstone), and by the end of the 

Mississippian, the area was again exposed to subaerial 

erosion (Poole and Sandberg 1991; Graham et al. 2002). 

During Early Mississippian and much of Late 

Mississippian time, layers of carbonates, intermittently 

alternating with sandy sediments, accumulated at 

roughly equal deposition rates north and south of the 

present day site of the Charleston Fault zone. These were 

to become the Fitchville, Gardison, Deseret, and 

Humbug Formations. Very late in the Mississippian 

period, and throughout Pennsylvanian and Permian 

time, more than 9,144 m (30,000 ft) of sediments 

accumulated in the basin to the south and west of the 

Charleston fault zone, whereas to the north and east less 

than 1,524 m (5,000 ft) of beds were laid down. 

As the sea became shallower during the regression that 

followed the Antler Orogeny and the Kaskaskia 

Sequence came to an end, the shoreline again receded 

from the Transcontinental Arch and by early 

Pennsylvanian time, soils were beginning to form in low 

lands and the higher areas were being worn down by 

erosion. Much of the Oquirrh, Park City Formations, and 

possibly all of the Great Blue Limestone and Manning 

Canyon Shale may be missing to the north of the 

Timpanogos Cave quadrangle due to this erosion. 

Coincident with Pennsylvanian tectonics (figure 12) was a 

global climate shift from the warm humid environment 

of the Late Mississippian to a much more arid 

environment in the region of Utah during the Early 

Pennsylvanian (Rueger 1996). 

As the Ancestral Rocky Mountains formed, the 

Ouachita- Marathon thrustbelt, the Anadarko Basin, and 

other Permian basins developed to the southeast and the 

Oquirrh Basin subsided to the northwest (Jordon and 

Douglas 1980; Peterson 1980; Kluth 1986; Gregson 1992). 

Vertical relief in some of these basins relative to sea level 

(i.e., the Oquirrh and Central basins) was greater than the 

emergent mountains, and the Ancestral Rockies may 

have reached as much as 3,000 m (10,000 ft) of relief. 

The thick sedimentary sequence of the Oquirrh Group in 

the Timpanogos Cave area represents the variety of 

shallow marine and arid near shore environments 

present in the Oquirrh basin area throughout the 

Pennsylvanian, including eolian dunes, marine shelf, 

open coastal area, intermittent fluvial systems/channels, 

and protected waters (Konopka 1982). The Oquirrh Basin 

along with all of these paleotectonic structures probably 

reflect a similar tectonic stress field controlled by 

Precambrian structural weaknesses and the 

compressional stress- field that evolved with the 

assembly of Pangaea (Tweto 1977; Kluth 1986; Ross and 

Ross 1986; Gregson 1992). 

Continuing from the Pennsylvanian, during the middle 

part of the phase of the Park City Formation deposition, 

in Permian time, shallow stagnant seas persisted over 

most of the Timpanogos Cave region. These seas 

provided the arid/evaporitic conditions required for 

deposition of phosphate and other salts (Baker and 

Crittenden 1961). Across the globe, the Permian Period 

was a time of dramatic environmental change. The 

Permian equator was oriented southwest- northeast 

through Wyoming and eastern Utah. An arid climate 

prevailed in this western part of the supercontinent 

Pangaea and resulted in restricted marine evaporitic 

conditions over much of the cratonic shelf seaway 

(Peterson 1980; Graham et al. 2002). These shallow seas 

filled basins such as the Oquirrh and Paradox Basins, 

with incredible accumulations of sediments and salts. 

From rock deposits around the globe, geologists have 

documented the third, and most severe, major mass 

extinction of geologic time at the close of the Permian. 

Geologists think a comet, about 6- 13 km (4 to 8 mi) in 

diameter, collided with the Earth (Becker et. al. 2001). 

The heat and shock waves generated from such an 

impact may have triggered vast volcanic eruptions that 

spread lava over an area two- thirds the size of the 

United States. Imagine, for example, basalt flows 

covering the area from San Francisco to St. Louis and 

Seattle to New Orleans. The amount of ejecta, volcanic 

ash, and toxic gases from such an event would have been 

devastating. 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 29

Powerful wind updrafts would have carried dust and grit 

swirling into the upper atmosphere. The particulate 

matter would have reflected back into space and 

scattered sunlight, resulting in years of global cooling 

with freezing temperatures even during summertime. A 

recent example of this type of global cooling occurred in 

1816 “the year without a summer,” following a volcanic 

explosion in Tambora, Indonesia. The sulfuric emissions 

from the volcanoes would have mixed with atmospheric 

water to produce downpours of corrosive acid rain. 

Thousands of species of insects, reptiles, and amphibians 

perished on land. In the oceans, coral formations 

vanished, as did snails, urchins, sea lilies, some fish, and 

the once- prolific trilobites. Five million years later, at the 

dawn of the Mesozoic Era, the oceans began to evolve 

into the chemistry of the modern oceans and on land, a 

new order arose, one that the world had never seen 

before and will never see again (Graham et al. 2002). 

There are no Mesozoic age rocks present in the walls 

surrounding Timpanogos Cave. They were eroded from 

the uppermost reaches of the Wasatch Range upon uplift 

along the Wasatch fault. The absence of stratagraphic 

record makes determining the paleoenvironment of the 

Mesozoic at Timpanogos Cave National Monument and 

vicinity difficult. Geologists refer to surrounding areas to 

determine the history in a regional context. 

The next major tectonic event to leave its mark on the 

Timpanogos Cave area was the North American plates 

switch from a passive margin to a convergent continental 

boundary, in Late Jurassic time. This compression, 

known as the Sevier- Laramide orogeny, resulted in the 

uplift of thousands of meters of sedimentary deposits 

that had lain buried in the basin that covered central 

Utah. During that time, great compressional forces 

pushed sheets of rock from west to east along thrust 

faults, first as thin slabs of sedimentary rocks, then as 

thick slabs with basement detachments. This formed 

overlapping columns of rock and eventually enough rock 

was uplifted to create the grandeur of today’s Rocky 

Mountains and a thick pile of rocks in central Utah. 

For about 35 million years during the Laramide Orogeny, 

from roughly 70 Ma to 35 Ma, the collision of the 

tectonic plates transformed the extensive basin of the 

Cretaceous Interior Seaway into smaller interior basins 

bordered by rugged mountains (Graham et al. 2002). The 

crustal unrest of the Late Cretaceous Laramide orogeny 

culminated in great dislocations along the Charleston 

Thrust. Present evidence, based on cross cutting 

relationships and contact metamorphism, indicates that 

the Charleston Thrust followed closely the intrusion of 

the Little Cottonwood igneous stock (Baker and 

Crittenden). Nearby, contemporaneous dikes, indicate 

the igneous activity was associated with a local 

extensional tectonic regime. 

Following the extensive crustal thickening during the 

Laramide orogeny, melting of the lower crust occurred 

during decompression, giving rise to the material of the 

Wasatch Igneous Belt. The emplacement of this belt was 

facilitated by mantle upwelling and underplating of a hot 

lower crust during the regional, Basin and Range, crustal 

extension following decompression (Vogel et al. 1997). 

Near the end of the Laramide Orogeny, in early midTertiary time, volcanic activity erupted across the 

southwest. 

The laccoliths that formed the Sleeping Ute Mountain, 

La Plata Mountains, Henry Mountains, La Sal 

Mountains, and Abajo Mountains were emplaced during 

mid- Tertiary volcanism that also gave rise to the 

extensive San Juan volcanic field in southern Colorado 

(Baars 2000; Fillmore 2000). Laccoliths provide some of 

the spectacular topography seen from National Parks 

and Monuments in Utah (Graham et al. 2002). 

This onset of volcanic activity signaled the ultimate end 

of the Laramide Orogeny. The area’s deformational 

regime was to change once again from compressional to 

extensional. The San Andreas strike- slip fault system 

between the Pacific plate and the North American plate 

began to grow and as it lengthened, the southwestern 

margin of North America began to undergo extensional 

deformation. As the crust was extended, the surface 

began to be broken into the basin- and- range 

topography we see today in western Utah, Nevada, 

Arizona, and the Rio Grande Rift in New Mexico. The 

Basin and Range refers to a series of uplifted blocks 

bounded by downdropped valleys. 

Where lithospheric plate collisions lead to violent 

volcanic eruptions, typical of those surrounding today’s 

Pacific Rim, extensional tectonics generally produce less 

violent, basaltic lava flows. Thick flows of dark basaltic 

lava cap Grand and Battlement Mesas east and northeast 

of Colorado National Monument. Radiometric dating of 

basalt samples from these mesas indicates that the basalt 

flowed 9 to 10 Ma during the Miocene Epoch of the 

Tertiary Period (Lohman 1981; Graham et al. 2002). Often 

accompanying crustal extension are pervasive normal 

faults. The Wasatch Fault, uplifting the Wasatch Range, 

is a local result of crustal extension. 

The Wasatch Range is located on the eastern edge of the 

Basin and Range structural province, and for much of its 

extent is defined by a zone of lesser faults and a wellmarked fault scarp: the dramatically sharp Wasatch 

Front. The Wasatch Mountains are a narrow, faultuplifted range trending north- south from southern 

Idaho (Malad City, ID) to central Utah (Gunnison, UT), 

some 370 km (230 mi) (Swan et al. 1980). The fault 

exhibits almost continuous geomorphic expression of 

late Quaternary uplift (Swan et al. 1980). Older faults and 

folds exposed within the range, mostly behind or east of 

the front, strike at various angles and are, in places, 

extremely complex, others are buried in the basin to the 

west (Baker and Crittenden 1961). 

The normal faults that moved the Wasatch block upward 

are exposed in several places along the western base of 

the range and collectively make up the Wasatch Fault 

zone. Uplift along the Wasatch Fault system is still 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 30 

occurring today (figure 13). Though no significant seismic 

events have occurred in recorded history along the fault, 

geologists speculate from field evidence, measured 

tectonic stresses, and recurrence intervals that an 

earthquake is possible at any moment. 

One of the largest of segments of the Wasatch Fault 

system, which extends south- southeastward from the 

mouth of American Fork Canyon, has a footwall of Great 

Blue limestone and a hanging wall of Manning Canyon 

shale. The top of the Great Blue limestone is displaced by 

this series of faults, from an altitude of approximately 

2,743 m (9,000 ft), to a position below the valley floor, so 

that the total displacement must be more than 1,219 m 

(4,000 ft) (Baker and Crittenden 1961). Estimates of 

average total throw across the fault zone vary from 2.6 to 

4 km (1.6 to 2.5 miles) (Bruhn et al. 1987). 

Accompanying the uplift of the Wasatch Range and 

other ranges in the Basin and Range Province, faultbounded valleys filled with a variety of sediments shed 

from the newly exposed highlands. In the Timpanogos 

Cave area, during and after a period of intense regional 

erosion that probably occupied much of the Eocene and 

early Oligocene, the conglomerates and reworked 

volcanics of the Tibble Fork Formation were deposited. 

This deposition was possibly contemporaneous with 

volcanic rocks being erupted in the Park City area to the 

northeast. Normal displacements along the Deer Creek 

normal fault then downdropped the Tibble Fork 

Formation several thousand feet in American Fork 

Canyon and east of Mount Timpanogos (Baker and 

Crittenden 1961). 

The Quaternary Period is subdivided into two epochs: 1) 

the Pleistocene, from about 1.6 Ma to 10,000 years before 

present (B.P.), and 2) the younger Holocene Epoch that 

extends from 10,000 years B.P. to the present. The 

Pleistocene Epoch is known as the Ice Age and is marked 

by multiple episodes of continental and alpine glaciation. 

Great continental glaciers, thousands of feet thick, 

advanced and retreated over approximately 100,000-

year cycles during this time. Huge volumes of water were 

stored in the glaciers during glacial periods so that sea 

level dropped as much as 91 m (300 ft) (Fillmore 2000). 

The carving of a rugged mountain landscape by streams, 

frost action, and glaciers has been the principal geologic 

activity in this region from late Tertiary time to the 

present. 

The great glacial cirques that flank the summits of Box 

Elder Peak and Mount Timpanogos are impressive 

evidence of glaciers that melted and disappeared 

centuries ago. The glaciers left their mark in such alpine 

features as arêtes (knife- edge ridges), horns (pyramidal 

shaped summit), cirques (rounded depressions at the 

base of peaks – usually containing a lake), U- shaped 

valleys, and moraines (unsorted deposits of clay to 

boulder material left by a glacier when it retreats) 

(Graham et al. 2002). 

American Fork Canyon, the deepest canyon in the 

Timpanogos Cave quadrangle, might have been occupied 

by some ice, at least above Tibble Fork, but instead of a 

characteristic glacial “U”- shaped valley, its jagged "V"-

shaped lower canyon (so well seen from the trail to 

Timpanogos Cave) is a striking testimony to the erosive 

power of running water on a tectonically active 

landscape (Baker and Crittenden 1961). 

During part of Quaternary time, 16,800 years ago, ancient 

Lake Bonneville covered the lowest ground in the west 

corner of the Timpanogos Cave National Monument 

(over 51,800 square km or 20,000 square miles) and was 

up to 305 m (1,000 ft) in depth. Its highest altitude 

shoreline, called the Bonneville shoreline, was about 

1,565 m (5,135 ft) above sea- level over parts of Nevada, 

Utah, and Idaho. The Provo shoreline, at which the 

water level remained the longest, was a little over 1,463 m 

(4,800 ft) in elevation. Both are expressed by the marked 

contours, parallel to the valley floor, along the foot of the 

Wasatch Range (Baker and Crittenden 1961). Lake 

Bonneville left a lot of other evidence. In the foothills of 

the mountains in Utah and Salt Lake valley, there are 

benches of gravel and sand that were deposited by Lake 

Bonneville. At the mouth of American Fork canyon, 

there are two large hills (about 30.5 m or 100 feet high) 

made of gravel deposited as the ancient American Fork 

River reached Lake Bonneville and formed a river delta. 

When Lake Bonneville crested over Red Rock pass near 

Downey, Idaho, it sent a torrent of water into the Snake 

River drainage. The water carved incredible deep valleys 

and left deposits of sand, gravel and even boulders as it 

rushed out. The Bonneville flood lasted less than a year 

and lowered lake level by 122 m (400 ft). As Utah's 

climate changed to become warmer and drier, Lake 

Bonneville slowly evaporated until the Great Salt Lake 

and Utah Lake were all that remained. 

The Holocene is the Age of Humans and our impact on 

our global ecosystem is complex. With the retreat of the 

glaciers and the end of widespread glaciation about 

12,000 years ago, the climate continued to warm and 

global sea level rose. In some local areas (i.e., the coast of 

Maine), however, relative sea level lowered as the land 

rebounded from the weight of the glaciers. Local 

tectonism, sediment input, global warming, and global 

cooling are some of the factors affecting global sea level 

and their relative importance, and humans’ influence on 

them, continues to be debated today (Graham et al. 

2002). 

Geologically, the Wasatch Range has not changed much 

during the Holocene. The area as a whole has been 

subjected to repeated earthquakes and extensional uplift 

and downdrop of the blocks on either side of the 

Wasatch Fault, and streams have carved new landscapes 

since the end of the ice age, but 11,000 years is but a 

geological instant. 

Figure 9 summarizes the geologic history from the 

Proterozoic to the present at Timpanogos. 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 31

Figure 9. Generalized graphic overview of geologic evolution of Utah from the Archean Eon to the Holocene Epoch (adapted from Hintze 

1988). 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 32 

Figure 10. Geologic time scale; adapted from the U.S. Geological Survey. Red lines indicate major unconformities between eras. Included 

are major events in life history and tectonic events occurring on the North American continent. Absolute ages shown are in millions of 

years. 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 33

Figure 11. Generalized cross section of American Fork Canyon including Timpanogos Cave system (adapted from NPS graphic, 

http://www.nps.gov/tica). 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 34 

Figure 12. Major uplifts and basins present during the Pennsylvanian age in the southwestern United States. Sediment eroded from the 

uplifts was deposited in the adjacent basins. Modified from Rigby, (1977). 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 35

Figure 13. Segments of the Wasatch Fault as identified by Machette (1987). Boundaries are placed at offsets of discontinuities in the trend of 

the fault and are marked by red arrows. Balls indicate downdropped block relative to the fault surface. Note the location of the American 

Fork segment (adapted from Hintze 1988). 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 36 

Glossary 

This glossary contains brief definitions of technical geologic terms used in this report. Not all 

geologic terms used are referenced. For more detailed definitions or to find terms not listed 

here please visit http://wrgis.wr.usgs.gov/docs/parks/misc/glossarya.html. 

active margin. A continental margin where significant 

volcanic and earthquake activity occurs; commonly a 

convergent plate margin. 

alluvial fan. A fan- shaped deposit of sediment that 

accumulates where a high gradient stream flows out of 

a mountain front into an area of lesser gradient such as 

a valley. 

alluvium. Stream- deposited sediment that is generally 

rounded, sorted, and stratified. 

alpine glacier. A glacier occurring in a mountainous 

region; also called a valley glacier. 

angular unconformity. An unconformity where the strata 

above and below are oriented differently; generally 

caused by structural deformation and erosion prior to 

deposition of the upper bed. 

aquifer. Rock or sediment that are sufficiently porous, 

permeable, and saturated to be useful as a source of 

water. 

baseflow. Stream flow supported by groundwater flow 

from adjacent rock, sediment, or soil. 

baselevel. The lowest level to which a stream can erode 

its channel. The ultimate base level for the land surface 

is sea level, but temporary base levels may exist locally. 

basement. The undifferentiated rocks, commonly 

igneous and metamorphic, that underlie the rocks of 

interest. 

bed. The smallest sedimentary strata unit, commonly 

ranging in thickness from one centimeter to a meter or 

two and distinguishable from beds above. 

bedding. Depositional layering or stratification of 

sediments. 

bedrock geology. The geology of underlying solid rock 

as it would appear with the sediment, soil, and 

vegetative cover stripped away. 

block (fault). A crustal unit bounded by faults, either 

completely or in part. 

braided stream. A stream, clogged with sediment that 

forms multiple channels that divide and rejoin. 

calcareous. A rock or sediment containing calcium 

carbonate. 

carbonaceous. A rock or sediment with considerable 

carbon, esp. organics, hydrocarbons, or coal. 

cementation. Chemical precipitation of material into 

pores between grains that bind the grains into rock. 

chemical sediment. A sediment precipitated directly 

from solution (also called nonclastic). 

chemical weathering. The dissolution or chemical 

breakdown of minerals at Earth’s surface via reaction 

with water, air, or dissolved substances. 

conglomerate. A coarse- grained sedimentary rock with 

clasts larger than 2 mm in a fine- grained matrix. 

continental drift. The concept that continents have 

shifted in position over Earth (see and use ‘plate 

tectonics’). 

continental shield. A continental block of Earth’s crust 

that has remained relatively stable over a long period 

of time and has undergone only gentle warping 

compared to the intense deformation of bordering 

crust 

cross-bedding. Uniform to highly- varied sets of inclined 

sedimentary beds deposited by wind or water that 

indicate distinctive flow conditions. 

cross section. A graphical interpretation of geology, 

structure, and/or stratigraphy in the third (vertical) 

dimension based on mapped and measured geological 

extents and attitudes depicted in an oriented vertical 

plane. 

crust. The outermost compositional shell of Earth, 10- 40 

km (6- 25 mi) thick, consisting predominantly of 

relatively low- density silicate minerals (also see 

oceanic crust and continental crust). 

debris flow. A rapid and often sudden flow or slide of 

rock and soil material involving a wide range of types 

and sizes. 

deformation. A general term for the process of faulting, 

folding, shearing, extension, or compression of rocks 

as a result of various Earth forces. 

delta. A sediment wedge deposited at a stream’s mouth 

where it flows into a lake or sea. 

dike. A tabular, discordant igneous intrusion. 

dip. The angle between a structural surface and a 

horizontal reference plane measured normal to their 

line of intersection. 

disconformity. An unconformity at which the bedding of 

the strata above and below are parallel. 

discordant. Having contacts that cut across or are set an 

angle to the orientation of adjacent rocks. 

divergent boundary. A tectonic plate boundary where 

the plates are moving apart (e.g., a spreading ridge or 

continental rift zone). 

drainage basin. The total area from which a stream 

system receives or drains precipitation runoff. 

eolian. Formed, eroded, or deposited by or related to the 

action of the wind. 

ephemeral stream. A stream that flows only in direct 

response to precipitation. 

evaporite. Chemically precipitated mineral(s) formed by 

the evaporation of solute- rich water under restricted 

conditions. 

exfoliation. The breakup, spalling, peeling, flaking, etc. of 

layers or concentric sheets from an exposed rock mass 

due to differential stresses resulting from thermal 

changes or pressure unloading. 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 37

extrusive. Of or pertaining to the eruption of igneous 

material onto the surface of Earth. 

fault. A subplanar break in rock along which relative 

movement occurs between the two sides. 

formation. Fundamental rock- stratigraphic unit that is 

mappable and lithologically distinct from adjoining 

strata and has definable upper and lower contacts. 

fracture. Irregular breakage of a mineral; also any break 

in a rock (e.g., crack, joint, fault) 

frost wedging. The breakup of rock due to the expansion 

of water freezing in fractures. 

geology. The study of Earth including its origin, history, 

physical processes, components, and morphology. 

graben. A down- dropped structural block bounded by 

steeply- dipping, normal faults (also see horst). 

horst. An uplifted structural block bounded by highangle normal faults. 

igneous. Refers to a rock or mineral that originated from 

molten material; one of the three main classes or rocks: 

igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. 

intrusion. A body of igneous rock that invades older 

rock. The invading rock may be a plastic solid or 

magma that pushes its way into the older rock. 

joint. A semi- planar break in rock without relative 

movement of rocks on either side of the fracture 

surface. 

karst topography. Topography characterized by 

abundant sinkholes and caverns formed by the 

dissolution of calcareous rocks. 

laccolith. A tack head- to arcuate- shaped, concordant 

pluton that domed or up- arched the overlying country 

rocks. 

landslide. Any process or landform resulting from rapid 

mass movement under relatively dry conditions. 

lithification. The conversion of sediment into solid rock. 

lithology. The description of a rock or rock unit, 

especially the texture, composition, and structure of 

sedimentary rocks. 

lithosphere. The relatively rigid outmost shell of Earth’s 

structure, 50 to 100 km (31 to 62 mi) thick, that 

encompasses the crust and uppermost mantle. 

loess. Silt- sized sediment deposited by wind, generally 

of glacial origin. 

mantle. The zone of Earth’s interior between crust and 

core. 

matrix. The fine- grained interstitial material between 

coarse grains in porphyritic igneous rocks and poorly 

sorted clastic sediments or rocks. 

meanders. Sinuous lateral curves or bends in a stream’s 

channel. 

mechanical weathering. The physical breakup of rocks 

without change in composition (syn: physical 

weathering). 

member. A lithostratigraphic unit with definable contacts 

that subdivides a formation. 

mineral. A naturally- occurring, inorganic crystalline 

solid with a definite chemical composition or 

compositional range. 

nonconformity. An erosional surface preserved in strata 

in which crystalline igneous or metamorphic rocks 

underlie sedimentary rocks. 

normal fault. A dip- slip fault in which the hanging wall 

moves down relative to the footwall. 

orogeny. A mountain- building event, particularly a wellrecognized event in the geological past (e.g. the 

Laramide orogeny). 

outcrop. Any part of a rock mass or formation that is 

exposed or “crops out” at Earth’s surface. 

outwash. Glacial sediment transported and deposited by 

meltwater streams. 

overbank deposits. Alluvium deposited outside a stream 

channel during flooding. 

overthrust. A nondescript and not recommended term 

for a large- scale, low- angle, thrust fault. 

paleogeography. The study, description, and 

reconstruction of the physical geography from past 

geologic periods. 

paleontology. The study of the life and chronology of 

Earth’s geologic past based on the phylogeny of fossil 

organisms. 

Pangaea. A theoretical, single supercontinent that 

existed during the Permian and Triassic Periods (also 

see Laurasia and Gondwana). 

parent (rock). The original rock from which a 

metamorphic rock or soil was formed. 

passive margin. A tectonically quiet continental margin 

indicated by little volcanic or seismic activity. 

pebble. Generally, small, rounded, rock particles from 4 

to 64 mm in diameter. 

permeability. A measure of the ease or rate that fluids 

move through rocks or sediments. 

plateau. A broad, flat- topped topographic high of great 

extent and elevation above the surrounding plains, 

canyons, or valleys (both land and marine landforms). 

plate tectonics. The theory that the lithosphere is broken 

up into a series of rigid plates that move over Earth’s 

surface above a more fluid aesthenosphere. 

porosity. The proportion of void space (cracks, 

interstices) in a volume of a rock or sediment. 

prodelta. The part of a delta below the level of wave 

erosion. 

progradation. The seaward building of land area due to 

sedimentary deposition. 

provenance. A place of origin. The area from which the 

constituent materials of a sedimentary rock were 

derived. 

radioactivity. The spontaneous decay or breakdown of 

unstable atomic nuclei. 

radiometric age. An age in years determined from 

radioisotopes and their decay products. 

recharge. Infiltration processes that replenish 

groundwater. 

regression. A long- term seaward retreat of the shoreline 

or relative fall of sea level. 

relative dating. Determining the chronological 

placement of rocks, events, fossils, etc. from geological 

evidence. 

reverse fault. A contractional, high angle (>45o), dip- slip 

fault in which the hanging wall moves up relative to the 

footwall (also see thrust fault). 

rift valley. A depression formed by grabens along the 

crest of an oceanic spreading ridge or in a continental 

rift zone. 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 38 

ripple marks. The undulating, subparallel, usually smallscale, ridge pattern formed on sediment by the flow of 

wind or water. 

rock. A solid, cohesive aggregate of one or more minerals 

or mineraloids. 

scarp. A steep cliff or topographic step resulting from 

vertical displacement on a fault or by mass movement. 

seafloor spreading. The process in which tectonic plates 

diverge and new lithosphere is created at oceanic 

ridges. 

sediment. An eroded and deposited, unconsolidated 

accumulation of lithic and mineral fragments. 

sedimentary rock. A consolidated and lithified rock 

consisting of detrital and/or chemical sediment(s). 

shale. A clastic sedimentary rock made of clay- sized 

particles that exhibit parallel splitting properties. 

slickenside. A smoothly polished and often striated 

surface representing deformation of a fault plane. 

slope. The inclined surface of any geomorphic feature or 

rational measurement thereof (syn: gradient). 

slump. A generally large, coherent mass movement with 

a concave- up failure surface and subsequent 

backward rotation relative to the slope. 

soil. Surface accumulation of weathered rock and 

organic matter capable of supporting plant growth and 

often overlying the parent rock from which it formed. 

spring. A site where water flows out at the surface due to 

the water table intersecting the ground surface. 

strata. Tabular or sheetlike masses or distinct layers (e.g., 

of rock). 

stratigraphy. The geologic study of the origin, 

occurrence, distribution, classification, correlation, 

age, etc. of rock layers, especially sedimentary rocks. 

stream. Any body of water moving under gravity flow 

and confined within a channel. 

strike. The compass direction of the line of intersection 

that an inclined surface makes with a horizontal plane. 

strike-slip fault. A fault with measurable offset where the 

relative movement is parallel to the strike of the fault. 

subduction zone. A convergent plate boundary where 

oceanic lithosphere descends beneath a continental or 

oceanic plate and is carried down into the mantle. 

subsidence. The gradual sinking or depression of part of 

Earth’s surface. 

suture. The linear zone where two continental 

landmasses become joined due to obduction. 

system (stratigraphy). The group of rocks formed during 

a period of geologic time. 

tectonic. Relating to large- scale movement and 

deformation of Earth’s crust. 

tectonics. The geological study of the broad structural 

architecture and deformational processes of the 

lithosphere and aesthenosphere (also see structural 

geology). 

terraces (stream). Step- like benches surrounding the 

present floodplain of a stream due to dissection of 

previous flood plain(s), stream bed(s), and/or valley 

floor(s). 

terrane. A region or group of rocks with similar geology, 

age, or structural style. 

thrust fault. A contractional, dip- slip fault with a 

shallowly dipping fault surface (<45o) where the 

hanging wall moves up and over relative to the 

footwall. 

topography. The general morphology of Earth’s surface 

including relief and location of natural and 

anthropogenic features. 

trace (fault). The exposed intersection of a fault with 

Earth’s surface. 

trace fossils. Sedimentary structures, such as tracks, 

trails, burrows, etc., that preserve evidence of 

organisms’ life activities, rather than the organisms 

themselves. 

transgression. Landward migration of the sea due to a 

relative rise in sea level. 

travertine. A limestone deposit or crust, often banded, 

formed from precipitation of calcium carbonate from 

saturated waters, especially near hot springs and in 

caves (also see tufa). 

trend. The direction or azimuth of elongation or a linear 

geological feature. 

unconformity. A surface within sedimentary strata that 

marks a prolonged period of nondeposition or 

erosion. 

uplift. A structurally high area in the crust, produced by 

movement that raises the rocks. 

volcanic. Related to volcanoes; describes igneous rock 

crystallized at or near Earth’s surface (e.g., lava). 

water table. The upper surface of the saturated (phreatic) 

zone. 

weathering. The set of physical, chemical, and biological 

processes by which rock is broken down in place. 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 39

References 

This section provides a listing of references cited in this report. It also contains general 

references that may be of use to resource managers. A more complete geologic 

bibliography is available and can be obtained through the NPS Geologic Resources 

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Anderson, L.W., D.S. Anderson. 1981. Weathering rinds 

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Baars, D. L. 2000. The Colorado Plateau. Albuquerque, 

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Southeastern Utah. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 

2000- K, 4 plates. 

Santucci, V. 2000. A Survey of the Paleontological 

Resources from the National Parks and Monuments in 

Utah. In Geology of Utah’s Parks and Monuments, eds. 

Sprinkel, D.A., T.C. Chidsey, Jr., P.B. Anderson, 535-

556. Utah Geological Association Publication 28. 

Sloss, L.L. 1988. Tectonic evolution of the craton in 

Phanerozoic time. In Sedimentary Cover – North 

American Craton, ed. Sloss, L.L., 25- 52. Geological 

Society of America, Geology of North America, Vol. 

D- 2. 

Speed, R.C. 1983. Evolution of the sialic margin in the 

central western United States. In , in J Studies in 

continental margin geology, eds. Watkins, S., C.L. 

Drake, 457- 468. American Association of Petroleum 

Geologists Memoir 34. 

St. Clair, L.L., S.R. Rushforth. 1976. The diatoms of 

Timpanogos Cave National Monument, Utah. 

American Journal of Botany 63 (1): 49- 59. 

Summerfield. M.A. 1991. Global Geomorphology. New 

York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 

Swan, F.H., III, D.P. Schwartz, L.S. Cluff. 1980. 

Recurrence of moderate to large magnitude 

earthquakes produced by surface faulting on the 

Wasatch fault zone, Utah. Bulletin Seismological Society 

of America 70: 1431- 1432. 

Timpanogos Cave National Monument. 2006. 

Timpanogos Cave National Monument Science & 

Resource Management. 

http://www.nps.gov/tica/RMweb/ (accessed April 20 

2006). 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 42 

Tranel, M., A.L. Mayo, T.M Jensen. 1991. Preliminary 

investigation of the hydrology and hydrogeochemistry 

at Timpanogos Cave National Monument, Utah, and 

its implications for cave management. In Proceedings of 

the National cave management symposium, American 

Cave Conservation Association, Horse Cave, KY. 

Trexler, B.D.Jr., D.A. Ralston, D.A. Reece, R.E. Williams. 

1975. Sources and causes of acid mine drainage. Idaho 

Bureau of Mines and Geology, Pamphlet 165. 

Tuttle, E.R. 1957. The heart of Timpanogos. Salt Lake City. 

Tweto, O. 1977. Nomenclature of Precambrian rocks in 

Colorado. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1422- D. 

United States, Congress, Senate, Committee on Energy 

and Natural Resources. 2002,.Timpanogos Interagency 

Land Exchange Act of 2001. 107th Congress, Senate, 

Report: 107- 108. 

United States Department of the Interior, National Park 

Service. 1986. Timpanogos Cave National Monument: 

statement for management. 

United States Department of the Interior, National Park 

Service. 1989.Timpanogos cave: official map and guide.

Timpanogos Cave National Monument, Utah, 1 sheet. 

United States, National Park Service, Rocky Mountain 

Regional Office. 1993. Environmental impact statement, 

general management plan, development concept plan. 

Timpanogos Cave National Monument. 

Vogel, T.A., F.W. Cambray, L. Feher, K.N. Constenius. 

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Programs 29 (6): A- 282. 

White, W.B., J.J. Van Gundy. 1971. Geological 

reconnaissance of Timpanogos Cave, Utah. The NSS 

Bulletin 33 (4): 147- 148. 

White, W.B., J.J. Van Gundy. 1974. Reconnaissance 

geology of Timpanogos Cave, Wasatch County, Utah. 

National Speleological Society Bulletin 30 (1): 5- 17. 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 43

Appendix A: Geologic Map Graphic 

The following page provides a preview or “snapshot” of the geologic map for 

Timpanogos Cave National Monument. For a poster size PDF of this map or for digital 

geologic map data, please see the included CD or visit the GRE publications webpage: 

http://www2.nature.nps.gov/geology/inventory/gre_publications.cfm 

 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 45

Appendix B: Scoping Summary 

The following excerpts are from the GRE scoping summary for Timpanogos Cave 

National Monument. The scoping meeting occurred on May 10- 11, 1999; therefore, the 

contact information and Web addresses referred to herein may be outdated. Please 

contact the Geologic Resources Division for current information. 

An inventory workshop was held at Timpanogos Cave 

National Monument on May 10- 11, 1999 to view and 

discuss the park’s geologic resources, to address the 

status of geologic mapping for compiling both paper and 

digital maps, and to assess resource management issues 

and needs. Cooperators from the NPS Geologic 

Resources Division (GRD), Natural Resources 

Information Division (NRID), Timpanogos Cave NM 

(interpretation, resource management and 

superintendent), Utah Geological Survey, and local 

academic researchers were present for the two- day 

workshop. 

Day one involved a two- part field trip first led by 

University of Arizona Geologist Kurt Constenius, who 

has done extensive research on the regional tectonics 

and geologic structure, followed by a tour through the 

Timpanogos Cave system led by National Park Service 

(NPS) Geologic Resources Division (GRD) Cave 

Specialist Ron Kerbo. 

Day two involved a scoping session to present overviews 

of the NPS Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) program, 

the Geologic Resources Division, and the ongoing 

Geologic Resources Inventory (GRI) for Colorado and 

Utah. Round table discussions involving geologic issues 

for Timpanogos Cave NM included interpretation, the 

UGA Millennium 2000 guidebook featuring the geology 

of Utah's National and State parks, paleontological 

resources, the status of cooperative geologic mapping 

efforts, sources of available data, geologic hazards, 

unique geologic features, potential future research topics, 

and action items generated from this meeting. Brief 

summaries of each follows. 

Overview of the Geologic Resources Inventory 

After introductions by the participants, Joe Gregson 

(NPS- NRID) presented an overview of the NPS I&M 

Program, the status of the natural resource inventories, 

and the geological resources inventory. 

Tim Connors (NPS- GRD) followed with a presentation 

summary of the up- to- date results of the Colorado GRI 

program. The status of each park area for geologic 

mapping inventories, digitizing maps, assembling 

bibliographies, preparing reports and defining 

deliverable dates for the NPS units in Colorado was 

discussed, as the Utah parks will follow a similar process. 

Interpretation 

The GRI aims to help promote geologic resource 

interpretation within the parks and GRD has staff and 

technology to assist in preparation of useful materials 

including developing site bulletins and resource 

management proposal (RMP) statements appropriate to 

promoting geology. Jim Wood (GRD) and Melanie 

Moreno (USGS- Menlo Park, CA) have worked with 

several other NPS units in developing web- based 

geology interpretation themes, and should be considered 

as a source of assistance should the park desire. 

During the walk up to the cave, the topic of how to 

improve the trailside exhibits was discussed in depth 

with Suzanne Flory. Many suggestions involved creating 

stratigraphic column signs with the theme of "you are 

here" in the geologic column and also giving geologic 

ages. 

It was also noted that in the near future, there will be a 

joint NPS- US Forest Service (USFS) visitor center at the 

mouth of American Fork Canyon. It was suggested that a 

3- dimensional model of the cave would be a nice feature 

of such a visitor center. It was suggested that interpreters 

from both agencies try to work together to promote the 

regional geologic story using the latest technologies as 

American Fork Canyon and Mount Timpanogos are 

major features of the Salt Lake City skyline. Being within 

such a short driving distance of such a large metropolitan 

area has turned TICA into an "urban" park. 

Because of this, Kit Mullen sees TICA as having the best 

opportunity to combine with the State of Utah for 

interpretation, education, and protection of resources. 

Lee Allison (UGS) mentioned that the UGS has targeted 

the NPS as a major partner for the next decade. They are 

currently assisting the NPS with their geologic mapping 

program and geologic extension services to facilitate 

information transfer to the public. Sandy Eldredge is 

available to conduct workshops with park personnel 

(including seasonals) and to work with Suzanne Flury 

regarding the interpretive trail signs. Specific programs 

that they can relay to park staff involve general geology, 

the geology of Utah, and the specific geology of NPS 

parks. They also have a brochure on the Geologic 

History of Utah that has been used by other parks such as 

Zion. They like to coordinate with other government 

agencies (BLM, USFS etc.) to minimize training sessions 

and redundancy. They think of it as "training the 

trainers.” 

Lee also mentioned that the UGS has a paleoecology 

team (headed by Dave Madsen) working in the western 

Utah desert studying both the human and paleoclimate 

history in caves. They may be able to help in studying age 

relations in the Timpanogos Cave System. This is further 

discussed in "Future Research Topics.” 
 NPS Geologic Resources Division 46 

Paleontological Resources 

After the meeting, Vince Santucci (NPS- GRD 

Paleontologist) was consulted for insight into the 

paleontological resources of the area. He mentions a 

series of fossiliferous units in American Fork Canyon in 

the following geologic units: 

• The Cambrian Ophir Formation has marine 

invertebrates including an assemblage of trilobites. 

• The Mississippian Deseret Limestone, the cave 

forming unit at TICA, has a variety of marine 

invertebrates. 

• Precambrian trace fossils have been reported from the 

American Fork Canyon area. 

• There are other units that have not yet been surveyed 

and are potentially fossiliferous. 

He also reports receiving a copy of a TICA RMP 

(resource management plan) Project Statement from past 

Superintendent Cordell Roy in 1997. This project 

statement proposed the excavation of paleontological 

resources from various cave fill sites at the monument. 

Rod Horrocks was very interested in initiating this 

project. A Paleontology Intern, Christian George, was 

recruited from Franklin and Marshall University, PA, to 

assist in the project. 

Packrat middens and cave fill samples were obtained in 

1998. One collection was made from a midden in the 

Organ Pipe Room of Hansen Cave. Small collections 

were made in Hidden Mine Cave and Boneyard Cave. 

There is a small collection of bones made during 1939 

from Grotto Cave. 

Carbon- 14 dating for a few of the samples is being 

funded through GRD. Christian George has analyzed the 

faunal material under the supervision of paleontologists 

at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and 

his undergraduate advisor. The results of Christian's 

analysis are being published in the 4th NPS Paleo 

Research Volume. 

The monument currently has 59 cataloged paleontology 

specimens and will more than double with the curation 

of the cave fill material collected in 1998. 

Santucci has also co- authored several Paleontological 

Surveys and hopes to complete one for TICA. Similar 

surveys have been done for Yellowstone and Death 

Valley NP's and have shed valuable new information on 

previously unrecognized resources. These surveys 

involve a literature review/bibliography and recognition 

of type specimens, species lists, and maps (which are 

unpublished to protect locality information), and also 

make park specific recommendations for protecting and 

preserving the resources. 

Vince suggests paleontological resource management 

plans should be produced for Timpanogos Cave 

involving some inventory and monitoring to identify 

human and natural threats to these resources. Perhaps 

someone on the park staff could be assigned to 

coordinate paleontological resource management and 

incorporate any findings or suggestions into the parks 

general management plan (GMP). It would be useful to 

train park staff (including interpreters and law 

enforcement) in resource protection, as the fossil trade 

"black market" has become quite lucrative for sellers and 

often results in illegal collecting from federal lands. 

Collections taken from this area that now reside in 

outside repositories should be tracked down for 

inventory purposes. Fossils offer many interpretive 

themes and combine a geology/biology link and should 

be utilized as much as possible in interpretive programs. 

Status of Geologic Mapping Efforts for Timpanogos 

Cave National Monument 

Currently, the UGS is mapping in Utah at three different 

scales: 

• 1:24,000 for high priority areas (i.e. National and State 

parks) 

• 1:100,000 for the rest of the state 

• 1:500,000 for a compiled state geologic map 

The UGS plans to complete mapping for the entire state 

of Utah within 10- 15 years at 1:100,000 scale. For 

1:100,000 scale maps, their goal is to produce both paper 

and digital maps; for 1:24,000 scale maps, the only digital 

products will be from "special interest" areas (i.e. areas 

such as Zion and growing metropolitan St. George). The 

UGS simply does not have enough manpower and 

resources to do more areas at this scale. UGS mapping 

goals are coincident with those of the National Geologic 

Mapping Program of the USGS. Kurt Constenius showed 

the group a compilation of the four major 1:24,000 scale 

quadrangles that encompass the Timpanogos Cave 

region (See Appendix C, Timpanogos Cave NM Index of 

Geologic Maps, 1:24,000 Scale, and Appendix D, 

Timpanogos Cave NM Index of Geologic Maps, 1:48,000 

Scale): 

• Dromedary 

• Brighton 

• Timpanogos Cave 

• Aspen Grove 

He noted that the map edges match quite well on all four 

quadrangles and that there is a summary of the geology, 

stratigraphy, and geologic history for the area that 

accompanies the maps. 

All four quadrangles are published, but are not believed 

to be in digital format. The main author on these maps 

was Arthur Alan Baker and most were published in the 

1960s prior to digital compilations. The NPS only 

requires digitization of the Timpanogos Cave quadrangle 

(GQ- 132), but welcomes digitization of the surrounding 

area by other agencies, if possible. Grant Willis needs to 

be consulted to find out the possibility of the UGS 

digitizing this quadrangle. 

Constenius noted that he is currently working with the 

UGS and Jim Coogan (Denver, CO) to compile the Provo 

30x60 quadrangle at 1:100,000. This project encompasses 
 TICA Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 47

some minor changes to the existing Baker quadrangles 

incorporating modern thought into the stress field 

systems and thrust belts using some aerial 

reconnaissance. Work will begin in July 1999 and will be a 

high priority for completion, but is expected to be a 3-

year project. 

The NPS feels digitization of the Timpanogos Cave 

quadrangle can begin immediately, and that any 

refinements to the area by Constenius and Coogan could 

be incorporated at a later time. 

Other Sources of Natural Resource Data 

The UGS has a significant quadrangle database that they 

have furnished to NRID for the entire state of Utah. 

• NRID has compiled a geologic bibliography for 

numerous parks and monuments, including 

Timpanogos Cave. 

• It was mentioned that Rod Horrocks worked on a map 

of the area at ~1:100,000 scale that is hand- drawn and 

should probably be digitized. 

Geologic Hazards 

There are numerous issues related to geologic hazards in 

and around Timpanogos Cave NM. Below is a brief list of 

some mentioned during the scoping session: 

• Rockfalls in American Fork Canyon have caused 

human fatalities and have damaged trails 

• Debris flows in picnic areas have buried gates and 

posed threats to the public 

• Slip/fall hazards are present on many trails within the 

canyon, especially during cooler weather 

• Flash floods and snow avalanches occasionally occur 

within American Fork Canyon 

• Low ceiling heights in the caves pose both a potential 

danger to visitors who may hit their head, and to 

speleothems that are hit by those heads 

• Significant earthquake potential exists along the 

Wasatch Fault of the mountain front just west of 

American Fork Canyon 

• There is a potential for Radon in the caves; TICA has 

study with official report 

• Drop- offs (> 1 meter) and narrow passages within the 

cave exist and pose safety hazards 

Unique Geologic Features 

The Timpanogos Cave area has some spectacular 

geologic features; a few are listed below: 

• Timpanogos Cave system with three distinct cave 

areas/names: Hansen Cave, Middle Cave, Timpanogos 

Cave. 

• Walls of the American Fork Canyon and the path 

leading up to the cave 

• Speleothems: flowstone, Helictites, stalactites, 

stalagmites 

• Speleogens: features related to genesis of caves that 

was created as cave was formed 

• Fracture flow ground- water river system 

• Paleoclimate record in minerals and sediments 

(especially cobbles); pack rat middens in cave; 

• human signatures in the cave 

• Paleo river system and paleohydrology (sediments in 

cave cobbles, etc.) 

• Fault and fracture system on cave control 

• Box Elder Peak anticline is major crustal scale anticline 

• Tibble Fork half- graben 

• Wasatch Fault that marks the beginning of the 

American Fork Canyon 

Potential Research Topics 

A list of potential research topics and future needs 

includes the following: 

• A detailed 3- dimensional cartographic survey of the 

cave interior including features (speleothems and 

speleogens) that follows standards and guidelines 

• Determination of the age, origin, and geologic history 

of the cave system and American Fork Canyon 

• Use Uranium series dating (or C- 14 if young enough) 

or U- Pb (if old enough) to determine when active 

speleological deposition began while extracting 

paleomagnetic data if possible; determine number of 

depositional episodes 

• Study palynology and stratigraphy of sediments and 

cores. It was mentioned that 13’ of flowstone was 

cored; try to locate this core and where it was taken 

from within the cave. 

• Determine age of canyon cutting using apatite fission 

tracks for peaks and surface exposure ages for 

minimum age of canyon from the exposed flatirons 

• Date small vugs in other stratigraphic units for timing 

of deposition; use isotopic composition of CO3 

minerals to determine source (hydrothermal or other) 

• Collect current drip waters to determine potential for 

precipitation (deposition) or dissolution (erosion) by 

current chemical composition parameters (pH) 

• Determine air flow directions in the cave for use in 

interpreting the direction of deposition of speleothems 

• Use resistivity to locate cavities in other stratigraphic 

units 

• Conduct a detailed study of fractures, faults and 

bedding within the area 

• Conduct a minerals inventory within the cave 

(aragonite, calcite, etc.) 

• Review catalog of different types of speleothems 

catalogued so far for accuracy for IM purposes 

• Use pressure transducer to study storms moving in and 

out of cave system to determine pneumatic 

permeability and the exchange of air within American 

Fork Canyon 

• Study CO2 concentration within the cave 

The Department of the Interior protects and manages the nation’s natural resources and cultural heritage; provides scientific and other 

information about those resources; and honors its special responsibilities to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and affiliated Island 

Communities. 

Timpanogos Cave National Monument 

Geologic Resource Evaluation Report 

Natural Resource Report NPS/NRPC/GRD/NRR—2006/013 

NPS D-30, July 2006 

National Park Service 

Director • Fran P. Mainella 

Natural Resource Stewardship and Science 

Associate Director • Michael A. Soukup 

Natural Resource Program Center 

The Natural Resource Program Center (NRPC) is the core of the NPS Natural Resource Stewardship and 

Science Directorate. The Center Director is located in Fort Collins, with staff located principally in 

Lakewood and Fort Collins, Colorado and in Washington, D.C. The NRPC has five divisions: Air 

Resources Division, Biological Resource Management Division, Environmental Quality Division, Geologic 

Resources Division, and Water Resources Division. NRPC also includes three offices: The Office of 

Education and Outreach, the Office of Inventory, Monitoring and Evaluation, and the Office of Natural 

Resource Information Systems. In addition, Natural Resource Web Management and Partnership 

Coordination are cross-cutting disciplines under the Center Director. The multidisciplinary staff of NRPC 

is dedicated to resolving park resource management challenges originating in and outside units of the 

national park system. 

Geologic Resources Division 

Chief • David B. Shaver 

Planning Evaluation and Permits Branch Chief • Carol McCoy 

Credits 

Author • Trista Thornberry-Ehrlich

Editing • Jon Jasper, Ron Kerbo, and Melanie Ransmeier 

Digital Map Production • Stephanie O’Meara, Sara Kane, Eileen Ernenwein, and Trista Thornberry-Ehrlich 

Map Layout Design • Melanie Ransmeier
Geologic Resources Division 

Natural Resource Program Center 

P.O. Box 25287 

Denver, CO 80225 

http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/inventory/ 

(303) 969-2090 

EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICATM 

National Park Service 

U.S. Department of the Interior