Upheaval Dome

More photos from Upheaval:

• Around the South Rim of Upheaval Dome
• Hike up into the center of the crater

For years it was believed to be a collapsed salt dome (hence the name), but later research, starting with Eugene Shoemaker, shows that nearly all the evidence points to an impact origin, which will be no surprise to the lunar observer since it looks remarkably like a terrestrial version of the Orientale Basin, which we see in profile on the southwestern limb of the moon, or like the Nectaris basin which is more subtle than Orientale, but has the advantage of being visible face-on from earth.

Compare this face-on satellite shot of Orientale side by side with this aerial photo of Upheaval Dome. See the similarity?

We attempted to hike the trail that winds downhill just inside the first shock ring to the bottom, where a spur trail heads inside the crater. Unfortunately, we ran out of water by the time we got 2/3 of the way to the bottom. The trail continues down toward this canyon (carved by a tributary of the Green River) then bends around the bottom part of the outer shock ring -- the big red rocks looming just right of center -- and the trail to the center would be just on the other side of those rocks.

Looking up from different vantage points at various parts of the outside of part of Upheaval Dome's first shock ring.

Left, another view of the outer shock ring, and the way the terrain beyond it drops off into the canyon; right, concentric shock rings.

Other links on Upheaval Dome, including some great aerial shots showing the double-ringed basin structure:

• The Controversy Over Utah's Upheaval Dome by Matt Morgan An excellent overview of the debate on the structure's origin, with an aeriel photo which shows the structure in great detail
• Impact Deformation at Upheaval Dome, Revealed by Seismic Profiles A detailed seismic study to determine whether salt exists underneath (answer: apparently not)
• A color-enhanced photoshowing topology of the area, with a link back to a page cataloguing other terrestrial impact structures