Grading Rubric Total Points: 50

Include this rubric.

Point
s

Library Research Works Cited Page

-

/10

APA style; relevant content; college-level sources; websites are

allowed but not preferred sources should always be articles,
books, or documents whenever possible.

Park Visit
-

Field Observations Form - hand written in field (preferred),

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.
Total Points

/5
/50

ANTELOPE ISLAND

BY: JASON LEMMON

GEO-1010-003-SU16

Soon after the Mormon pioneers came to the Salt Lake valley in 1847, Antelope island
was started as a ranch for the churchs cattle. Fielding Garr, the person the ranch is named after,
helped move the cattle over and built the ranch house which is the oldest building in Utah that is
still on its original foundation. However, the island has a much older history that we can view
from the surface. The island is home to some of Utahs oldest and youngest varieties of rocks.
From Precambrian metamorphic gneiss on the southern two thirds of the island to the 550
million year old Cambrian quartzite in the north as well as the very young tufa limestone along
the east shore, antelope island has a diverse rock history. In recent years the island has become a
state park with hiking trails, campgrounds and salty beaches but it is still home to the Fielding
Garr ranch.
Antelope island started as church land mostly used for animal farming. It started as a
cattle ranch but after a few years, they added horses for breeding and even a few years later they
added sheep. Over the following years the island passed from owner to owner until William
Walker became ranch foreman. Many different types of animals were then introduced to the
island 1967 the Road to Nowhere is started. This is the name they used for the causeway between
Syracuse and the island and they used sand and gravel from the north side of the island for most
of it. And finally in 1969 the state opens the island as a state peak.
Utah is home to many state and national parks mostly due to its unique geology and
Antelope island is no exception. The island is covered with many examples of large rocks jutting
3

out of the ground. The dispersal of the islands rock types is surprisingly uniform. On the northern
part of the island the main rock you will see is tintic quartzite, a non-foliated metamorphic rock
commonly found in Utah that has very heavy signs of erosion. For the most part the rock is white
but there are some places where it has some red in it. The largest grouping of rocks is found on
the southern two thirds of the island which are the oldest rocks in the area. These are a banded
metamorphic gneiss from the Precambrian area and are as much as 2.7 billion years old which
makes them 10 times older than the earliest era of the dinosaurs. The younger rocks are found
along the east shore of the island and are a type of limestone called tufa and were only formed
about 11,000 years ago as part of the current era, the Holocene.
On the northwestern side of Antelope Island is a very small island called egg island. This
place gets its name from all the migratory birds that stop here to lay their eggs. One of the
natives to the island is a bug called a brine fly which are an easy meal for birds and with no
natural predators around, its no wonder the birds stop here to raise their young. The main bird
you will see around here is the California Gull but there are many other types of birds big and
small that stop by for a snack.
Today the island is home to many animals including a fairly large herd of American
bison. Tourists stop by the park to get a look at the ancient rocks, hike one of the many trails, see
the endangered bison, or take a dip in the Great Salt Lake which is up to nine times saltier than
the ocean.

Antelope Island - Utah State Parks. (n.d.). Retrieved July 27, 2016,
fromhttps://stateparks.utah.gov/stateparks/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2015/02/AISP-Ed-PacketHistory.pdf
Bozniak, E., Clark, S., Gatherum, D., & Watchocki, B. (n.d.). Resource Guide for the Weber
State University Botany Department field trip to Antelope Island State Park. Retrieved July 26,
2016, fromhttp://faculty.weber.edu/sharley/AIFT/guide.pdf
King, J. K., & Willis, G. C. (2000). The geology of Antelope Island, Davis County, Utah. Salt
Lake City: Utah Geological Survey.
Utah State Parks. (n.d.). Retrieved July 26, 2016, fromhttp://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/antelopeisland/antelope-island-history/
Antelope Island State Park visitors center. Viewed July 24, 2016

5
Some fractured quartzite and sand

Many heavily eroded quartzite samples

6
The burned gneiss mountain in the distance

Large chunks of angular quartzite

Rock sticking out of the ground with a band of white

Quartzite with many smaller rocks inside

10

11

12