Grading Rubric Total Points: 50

Include this rubric.

Points

Library Research Works Cited Page

-

/10

APA style; relevant content; college-level sources; websites not allowed

sources must be articles, books, or documents.

Park Visit
-

Field Observations Form - hand written in field, fully completed.

/5

Photos - 6 of your own photos, 2 per page, descriptive photo captions in

complete sentences, photos are original and show relevant geologic features.
Photos copied from the internet will result in a grade of zero for the assignment.

/5

Map Your own final hand-drawn map of the park showing geologic features,
includes title, north arrow, scale bar, legend of all map elements, use color, show
location of photos, show location of relevant geologic features and label them,
show human features like roads and trails.. This has to be a neat hand drawn
map of the park.

/5

Final Report - Three-page research paper

-

Content - Relevant observations and explanations of geologic features, good

relationship between your observations and the results of your library research.
Scientifically relevant physical geologic features. Show relationship between
geologic features to your observations.

/10

Writing style - Research report style that is objective, cites references, and is
concise, direct, organized, and structured. Will be free of grammatical and
spelling errors. Topic sentences for each paragraph, all sentences in paragraphs
relate to main point of paragraph.

/10

In-Text Citations: Followed in-text citation procedures for APA correctly.

/5

Total Points

/50

Self-Guided Field Trip Investigation

Quincy A. Norton
Monday Affolter
11-30-2015

The Midway Hot Springs are a geothermal anomaly in the northern part of the town of
Midway. The site exhibits many unique and strange properties, and has a few theories about the
formation of the valley and the hot springs. In general, the springs are to cool for most uses
beyond recreation (Kohler, 1979).
Midway is a town located just outside of the Salt Lake Valley. It is set to the north of a
large valley, with small hills and mound scattered throughout the length of the valley. It would
be rather unremarkable from a geological standpoint, except that there are a series of hot springs
that run through the length of the valley. Early settlers in the area noticed that there were patches
where the snow had melted sooner than it should have, and water was gushing from the top of
several mounds (Kohler, 1979). After investigating the area, they discovered a warm natural
spring where groundwater would flow up to the surface. The mound we visited for our selfguided field trip was Homestead Crater, a mound made out of calcite that formed over 10,000
years ago.
The US Department of Energy commissioned a series of reports in 1968 on the potential
viability of the site as source for geothermal power generation. Four wells were drilled over the
course of 20 years, and they all reached the same conclusion: The wells have their temperature
capped at 40 degrees centigrade. This is interesting, because in normal hot springs, the
temperature increase the deeper into the well you travel, and usual hot spring temperatures will
range up to 50 degrees centigrade (Fox, 1979). This is due to one of two reasons: One, a shallow
magma pocket rests beneath the spring, or a large quantity of radioactively decaying minerals
nearby generating heat. The Midway Hot Pots buck these trends in spectacular fashion. There are
not enough sulfide minerals present in the water to lend credence to the magma pocket theory,
and there is also a complete lack of radioactive materials both in the water and the surrounding

hillsides. In fact, the only materials present in the water are calcium, magnesium, potassium,
silica, sodium and trace amounts of barium, manganese, and strontium1. There are two theories
attempting to explain the mysteries of the springs. The first posits that water drains from several
know intrusive magma bodies that reside in the north, and water flows along the Dutch Hollow
and Pine Creek Faults (Fox, 1979). The water then flows down through carbonate rocks into
Midway, and seeps up through minor faults in the ground. The Mayflower mine has the strongest
support for this theory, as the mine exhibits relatively high temperatures that would indicate a
nearby intrusive magma body (Fox, 1979). The second attempt to explain the source of the
heated water was proposed by R.C Fox in 1979. He suggests that there is a younger intrusive
body bubbling up beneath Midway, and as groundwater and meteoric water seeps through small
faults in the surrounding Weber Quartzite and other related carbonate rocks, where it encounters
the magma body, heats into steam, and the resulting pressure forces the water back to the surface
(Kohler, 1979). In my opinion, the hypothesis suggested by Fox is the most plausible theory,
because if the water was pouring into the valley from some source in the north, you would expect
the water to be flowing from the hillsides on the northern hills in the valley, but this is not the
case. Giant mounds of calcite and travertine surround each of the hot springs, which indicates
that there may be a fault underneath through which the hot water is eroding the limestone
beneath the ground. The resulting sediments would be laid out as the water reaches the surface,
building a mound over the course of several thousand years. If the water were coming from
elsewhere, it is unlikely that the water would reach pressure high enough to cause these mounds
to be built, given that the mounds are roughly 55 feet in height and have a diameter of over 350
feet.

The History of Homestead Crater,

Given that the Hot Springs have no potential of providing power for the area, the primary
use for the Hot Pots now is for tourism. Homestead Resort is widely considered one of the best
places to get Scuba Certified, as the springs heat the water to 90 degrees Fahrenheit all year long.
Visiting the crater is very straightforward. Once you reach the site, a tunnel has been carved into
the calcite exterior to the interior cavern, which contains a pool of water 65 feet deep. A further
8-14 feet of sedimentary deposits coats the bottom of the chamber. The water is constantly being
drained by the local businesses, and the water from the springs is actually used to water a nearby
golf course. This would normally cause issues with sustainability, but the spring has a
tremendous output of water. Over 135,000 gallons of water filter their way into the hot spring
system each day, and if the water collection systems failed, the resulting artesian spring would
likely flood a large portion of the northern part of the valley, causing hundreds of thousands of
dollars worth of damages.
The water that flows into the crater is very pure. There are no nearby mines or other
sources of subterranean contaminants that pollute the water. As a general statement, most of the
surrounding geology of the area is untouched, aside from some light construction on the
northwestern face of the valley, and of course the drilling to allow easy access to the center of
the crater. Nearby industry is kept to a minimum, and the air is very clear, allowing an
impressive view of the surrounding mountains. On the particular morning I chose to observe the
springs, it was very cold. It was possible to see small columns of steam rising out the top of
Homestead Mound and a few other mounds throughout the valley.
In conclusion, there are still many more mysteries to be solved at Homestead Crater, and
it remains an interesting location for reasons of both tourism and geology.

Bibliography
Kohler, James, Geology, Characteristics, and Resource Potential of the Low Temperature
Geothermal System near Midway, Wasatch County, Utah, Utah Geological and Mineral Survey
No. 142 (1979)
Homestead Resorts, The History of Homestead Crater, 2015
Fox, R.C., Warm Springs Fault and Midway Hot Springs Gravity Surveys Utah Geological
and Mineral Surveys (1979)
Schneider, Hyrum, A Discussion of Certain Geologic Features of the Wasatch Mountains, The
Journal of Geology, Vol 33. No.1 (1925)
Goode, H. D., 1978 Thermal Waters of Utah, Utah Geological and Mineral Surveys, No.129

Photo taken by Henry Tran. In this picture, you can observe several stalactites forming, as well as the tofa that build
up the mound itself.

Photo taken by Henry Tran. Another view from the inside of the crater, with more stalactite formations visible.

This shot, taken from the outside of Homestead Crater, shows a place where the mound has been cracked. Based on
the vertical columns running down the side of the rock, you can guess how the mound was formed.

View of the surrounding mountainside. As you can see from this image, most of the surrounding hillsides are
untouched.

View of the town of Midway, taken from the summit of a nearby hill. Homestead Crater is the large mound in the
middle of the shot.

Another view of the valley. The golf courses where the excess water is siphoned off to are visible.

Map of Homestead Crater

Field Observation Sheet