267-10 Stolen waters: A geomorphic detective story of drainage reorganization of two northern Utah river networks

Session: Advances in Fluvial Processes and Sediment Transport (Posters)

Poster Booth No.: 172

Presenting Author:

Rachel Atkins

Authors:

Atkins, Rachel¹, Reeher, Lauren², Kleber, Emily³, Morriss, Matthew C.⁴, Dunstan, Giselle⁵, Beavers, Rochelle⁶, Dent, Cortney⁷, Rittenour, Tammy⁸

(1) Utah Valley University, Orem, Utah, USA, (2) Utah Geological Survey, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, (3) Utah Geological Survey, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, (4) Utah Geological Survey, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, (5) Utah Valley University, Orem, Utah, USA, (6) Utah Valley University, Orem, Utah, USA, (7) Utah Valley University, Orem, Utah, USA, (8) Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA,

Abstract:

The modern-day Provo and Weber Rivers both originate in Utah’s Uinta Mountains and deliver water to the Great Salt Lake (GSL), via very different paths. The Weber River flows to the north from the northern Uintas, entering Rockport and Echo Reservoirs, eventually emptying into Great Salt Lake from the northeast via the Ogden Waterfowl Management Area. Conversely, the Provo River flows southwest from the southern Uintas through Jordanelle and Deer Creek Reservoirs then Utah Lake before making its way to Great Salt Lake from the Jordan River via Farmington Bay. Despite their disparate paths, the two rivers flow close to one another near their headwaters where they are separated by the Kamas Valley, a small, half-graben in the Wasatch Back along the western foothills of the Uinta Mountains. High-resolution topographic imagery of the valley floor exhibits glacial outwash fabrics indicating a northwest-directed flow originating from the upper Provo River in the Late Pleistocene. This pattern suggests a time in which the Provo River flowed north and was functionally the south fork of the Weber River. Since the deposition of these sediments, we hypothesize the Provo was captured by a southwest flowing stream and integrated into its modern drainage pattern. Our work aims to investigate the evidence for and timing of the piracy of the Provo River headwaters from the ancestral south fork of the Weber River and its impact on surface water availability. We employ river terrace mapping and characterization, DEM analysis, and OSL dating to reconstruct the geomorphic history of the region. Ultimately, this research will reveal how this piracy of drainage set the hydrological stage for regional drainage reorganization in the Great Salt Lake Basin.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-10576

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