Utah’s Mountains May Hide a Billion Tons of Water Beneath the Rocks

Utah’s mountains may be hiding a billion tons of ice

Utah has hundreds of glaciers buried beneath boulders. Scientists say they could be increasingly important as the West warms.

Utah’s Mountains May Hide a Billion Tons of Water Beneath the Rocks

Utah’s mountains may be hiding a surprisingly large supply of frozen water beneath piles of loose rock. New research suggests the state’s hundreds of rock glaciers could collectively contain around 1 billion metric tons of water. Unlike conventional glaciers, rock glaciers do not necessarily look like giant masses of ice. Their surfaces are covered by […] The post Utah’s Mountains May Hide a Billion Tons of Water Beneath the Rocks appeared first…

Rock glaciers worldwide may hold about 48 gigatons of water

A rock-covered glacier beneath Mount Timpanogos contains about 1.55 million cubic meters of ice, enough frozen water to fill roughly 600 Olympic swimming pools. University of Utah geologists used tiny changes in gravity to build a three-dimensional image of ice buried beneath the rubble, finding an ice-rich core that is about 83% ice. The findings suggest rock glaciers are important hidden water stores, with researchers estimating that known roc…