H.C.R. 6

1

STOCKTON BAR GEOLOGIC FORMATION
2 CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
3 2010 GENERAL SESSION
4 STATE OF UTAH
5 Chief Sponsor: Ronda Rudd Menlove
6 Senate Sponsor: ____________
7
8 LONG TITLE
9 General Description:
10 This concurrent resolution of the Legislature and the Governor recognizes the Stockton
11 Bar Geologic Formation as a geologic treasure of the state.
12 Highlighted Provisions:
13 This resolution:
14 . recognizes the Stockton Bar Geologic Formation as a geologic treasure of the state
15 of Utah and a landmark of the state's geologic history.
16 Special Clauses:
17 None
18
19 Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein:
20 WHEREAS, the Stockton Bar, south of Tooele, is one of the largest and most
21 well-preserved shoreline remnants of Lake Bonneville;
22 WHEREAS, Lake Bonneville was a large fresh-water lake that occupied much of
23 western Utah during the last ice age;
24 WHEREAS, at its maximum level, the lake was almost 1,200 feet deep and covered
25 over 20,000 square miles;
26 WHEREAS, Grove Karl Gilbert, a geologist with the Powell Survey, was the first to
27 recognize the Stockton Bar as a giant, lake-formed sandbar when he passed through the area in

28 1877;
29 WHEREAS, Mr. Gilbert returned three years later as a member of the U. S. Geological
30 Survey to map in detail "The Great Bar at Stockton, Utah";
31 WHEREAS, these features, now perched high above the desiccated basin floor, provide
32 evidence of this ancient lake;
33 WHEREAS, the Stockton Bar formed as waves and currents brought sediments from
34 the north and deposited them in the strait between South Mountain, directly west of the town of
35 Stockton, and the Oquirrh Mountains, creating beaches, sandbars, and spits;
36 WHEREAS, the Stockton Bar is actually made up of several sandbars and spits built
37 upon one another as the level of the lake fluctuated;
38 WHEREAS, each sandbar contains unique information about lake and climate
39 conditions at the time it was formed;
40 WHEREAS, wave energy, current direction, wind speed, lake chemistry, and
41 precipitation and evaporation levels are just a few of the environmental conditions that can be
42 interpreted from the Stockton Bar sediments;
43 WHEREAS, the deposits of the Stockton Bar are also unusual in that they contain a
44 nearly continuous record of geologic history that spans several thousand years of Utah's last ice
45 age;
46 WHEREAS, few, if any, lakeshore bars can compare to the Stockton Bar in terms of
47 size and quality of preservation; and
48 WHEREAS, the bar is valued as both a natural landscape and a sand and gravel
49 resource:
50 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, the
51 Governor concurring therein, recognize the Stockton Bar Geologic Formation as a geologic
52 treasure of the state of Utah and a landmark of the state's geologic history.
53 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be sent to Holly Godsey
54 Bennet and Marjorie A. Chan, Geology and Geophysics Department, and to Donald R. Currey
55 and Genevieve Atwood, Geography Department, University of Utah, and to the Utah
56 Department of Natural Resources.

Legislative Review Note
as of 11-25-09 1:28 PM

Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel