EPOD - a service of USRA
The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.
A Many-Colored Fall in Blacksmith Fork Canyon
November 25, 2021
Blacksmith102ac_30sep21
Photographer: Ray Boren
Summary Author: Ray Boren
As summer’s long days diminish and temperatures turn crisp, fall colors
begin to pop on the slopes and in the canyons of North America’s
Rocky Mountains and the Great Basin of the western United States.
This photo from near Hyrum, Utah shows the many colors of fall
taken on Sept. 30, 2021 along the Blacksmith Fork River. The stream
follows serpentine Blacksmith Fork Canyon generally westward through
the Bear River Range, a subset of the Wasatch Mountains. The stream
continues toward the Bear River in Cache Valley, and thus on to the
West’s terminal inland sea, Great Salt Lake.
The quilt of autumn colors is created by an intermingling of
boxelder trees (Acer negundo), bigtooth maples (Acer
grandidentatum), scrub or gambel oaks (Quercus gambelii), in
addition to riverside dogwood, willows, shrubs and sedges. The
deciduous trees have stopped producing chlorophyll, revealing their
underlying colors. Higher up, forest greens are provided by Douglas
firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and various pines, including pinyon
pines (likely Pinus monophylla), as well as Utah junipers
(Juniperus osteosperma).
In the distance rise steep light-gray cliffs of interbedded
limestone and dolostone, as well as some sandstones and
conglomerates. These rock cliffs create the scenic grandeur of
Blacksmith Fork and nearby Logan Canyon to its north, as they
thread the Bear River Mountains. These layers were deposited in marine
environments during the Paleozoic Era’s Devonian, Mississippian and
Pennsylvanian ages, 299-419 million years ago. Blacksmith Fork’s
distinctive name has two possible origins, according to John W. Van
Cott, who compiled a reference book of “Utah Place Names”. One
source might have been a cache of blacksmithing tools kept in the
vicinity by mountain man and explorer Jedediah Smith and his brigades
in the early 1800s for shoeing horses. Other tales mention an actual
blacksmith, Andrew Anderson, who later worked in the area.
* Hyrum, Utah Coordinates: 41.6341, -111.8522
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Plant Links
* Discover Life
* Tree Encyclopedia
* What are Phytoplankton?
* Encyclopedia of Life - What is a Plant?
* USDA Plants Database
* University of Texas Native Plant Database
* Plants in Motion
* What Tree is It?
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