WILLARD BAY Katelyn Van Roosendaal

Geology 1010

04/16/2019

Willard Bay

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Visit dates 3/10/19 and 3/18/19

Willard Bay is a man made fresh water reservoir that is 9,900 acres located in Willard

Utah. Willard bay like stated above is manmade, it was separated from the Great Salt Lake in

1964. While traveling to Willard Bay to complete a filled observation I observed that they have

plenty of campgrounds with hookups for water and power in multiple different places. There are

also fire pits pavilions and tables to eat at. There is plenty of parking for visitors, bathrooms, and

out houses as well. Boat docs for boats and jet skis. The amount of boats and jet skiis is pretty

sparse at the time of my visit due to the fact that it was pretty cold out. The majority of the

people I saw there were people who had fishing boats and were fishing off the side of the Lake.

This is easier to do during the colder months when there aren’t a lot of people on the water

scaring fish away. These fishing fanatics also don’t get into the cold water, so that is also

something to mention.

After talking to employees who work here, the told me during the summer it is pretty

normal to see a lot of people jet skiing, boating, paddle boarding, hanging out on the beach

barbecuing, camping etc. The beaches are for people to lounge on while at the Lake while also

having more pavilions for people to eat and have a barbecue at. Behind the pavilions there are

plenty of parking places for vehicles and trucks with trailers. If you look further out into the

water there are water buoys for the “no wake zone”. These buoys mark a no wake zone, what

that means is that once you pass those buoys coming closer to the beach it means that you're

supposed to slow down so it's a safe area for people to swim.

Some of my observations of the field geologic elements are: sediments found are a

variety of size. Rocks large to small, sand and gravel are present on the beaches. There is also a

good amount of vegetation, grass and trees are present along the beach outskirts in the grassy

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area and more common within the camping area in the park. I did not see any evidence of lava

flows, or of glacial deposits. There are a few wetland areas present in the no wake zones and

along the beach area. You can't walk through this due to the amount of water that is in these

areas you could end up to your shoulders in water. There's a lot of erosion that has happened

along the beaches. There is a pretty good elevation change along the beach area especially along

the north beach. You can directly see that this has happened over time due to seeing the smaller

rocks towards the steeper incline and larger rocks closer to the water shore line.

If you look at my maps you will see that I have to find 2 different camping areas in the

State Park one on the North end of the Marina and one on the South end of the S Marina. The N

campground has 62 different camp sites most of these do have camping hookups. The South and

campground has 30 camp sites with various hookups. These hookups are there to be a luxury for

visitors so they don't necessarily need an RV or a camper. In the summer months I have heard

that it is common to see lots of tents in this area . When talking to the Rangers I asked further

about people that camping hammocks but they say that that is not allowed to be on the trees due

to damage in trees.

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Fig. 1 Map

This is the map I drew of where Willard bay

is located in consideration of the Great Salt

Lake, and to be able to see the incredible size

difference. When Visiting Willard bay I got a

sense of how large it truly is. So seeing the

size comparison is pretty spectacular.

Fig. 2 map

This is a close up on Willard bay and where

the different Marinas and campground areas

are. I mostly visited the North Marina due to

the larger space to explore and see a variety of

land.

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When I look at the different samples that I have collected I count 11 total samples. These

samples I am looking at are mostly shale , granite, some limestone , and the sand mixture that I

picked up. One thing to note about Willard Bay is that after some research it looks like back in

2016, there was a rock dump that they did to help promote fish growth within the Lake. This

would allow the fish to have a gathering area and a safe place for them to hang out, before this

they did not have very many nooks and crannies for them too explore and stay safe from boaters.

The rock dump that they did had a variety of different sizes of rocks that would allow larger and

smaller spaces for various different sizes of fish. When I look at the post from fox13now.com

regarding this, the Utah division of wildlife resources decided to dump these rocks at the bottom

of the reservoir. They ended up dumping 500 tons of large rocks. They did this by using dump

trucks on a barge and taking it out to predetermined locations along the Lake, and dumping these

loads. This news article states that the division of wildlife resources has been planning this dump

for several years and their plan was to help anglers in their luck for getting fish. “Utah DWR

Dumping 500 Tons of Rocks into Willard Bay to Improve Fish Habitat.” fox13now.Com, 10 June

2016, fox13now.com/2016/06/09/utah-dwr-dumping-500-tons-of-rocks-into-willard-bay-to-

improve-fish-habitat/.

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Below are the attached photos from my visit to Willard bay

Photo 1

This photo is of some of the

mixed rocks that I found near

the side of the road inside

Willard bay. These rocks are

mostly igneous and

metamorphic rocks. I

question if these rocks have

been brought here due to not

seeing this variety in multiple

other places.

Photo 2

This is a large rock within the

campgrounds area of the

North marina. As you can see

from the photo this is a great

example of Granite. The

linear compression is quite

easily seen here.

Photo 3

This is another photo of rocks

in the campground area of the

North marina. This granite

sample is less defined by how

it was formed. The linear

marks here are less obvious

and show signs of

compression from multiple

directions.

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Photo 4

This photo was taken in the campgrounds in

the north marina and again a very large rock

that you can see the compression force on this

particular piece over time. This compression

is clear that it comes from multiple directions

Photo 5

This photo is lake side in the North Marina.

Here you can again see the variety of rocks

but most predominantly is granite. Here you

can see how the increasing and decreasing

water depth has made this a rather interesting

ecosystem. Here you can see moss, sand,

large rocks and some weedy grasses.

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Another rather interesting observation I had is that in the marinas there are large pieces of

concrete. This is puzzling and again points you in the direction in wondering how many of these

rocks in the landscape have been brought her and dumped in meticulous predetermined locations

to help the ecosystems and wildlife. There are also good sized conglomerate rocks here, they

look like they may have been broke off from the sides of the road and maybe again brought here.

It also makes you wonder if some of this is concrete that may have been dumped in the area

before the Willard bay was cut off from the Great Salt Lake. The different “sand” that I found in

various different parts of the Willard bay is also perplexing. There are lots of different types and

sizes. Some are fine pieces of maybe feldspar or quartz. Some look to be other metamorphic

pieces that have eroded very fine over time.

Some rather interesting observations from my field observations and looking at my

photos, I am definitely drawn to granite rocks. All growing up I have loved rocks but never been

able to fully determine which rocks I love more, here I believe I may have found my answer.

Although there were not a whole lot of other rocks to document, I certainly did not photograph

the cement concrete slabs and the scattered conglomerate rocks.

Picture of the Beach area on North

Marina end

Photo credit

:http://www.reserveamerica.com/marketing/html/marketingHTML/pix/willardbayB.jpg

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Willard Bay map

Photo Credit https://www.bing.com/maps?q=willard+bay+state+park&form=EDGTCT&qs=PF&cvid=8506c89e4b7f4c1098fae82889a51bc5&refig=f4be877c

cd424e7f9e5a43c152565e2d&cc=US&setlang=en-US&elv=AQj93OAhDTi*HzTv1paQdnipZtrVHCnWm2%21%2139NhVTUzXSl2OtYQV4szN%21ZxWHpsZIO3%21BLIQEBCHtPV%21Zv7zGP7%212OOLapepZbiW9YZxpud&PC=HCTS

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Source(s)

• “Utah DWR Dumping 500 Tons of Rocks into Willard Bay to Improve Fish Habitat.”

fox13now.Com, 10 June 2016, fox13now.com/2016/06/09/utah-dwr-dumping-500-tons-

of-rocks-into-willard-bay-to-improve-fish-habitat/.

• My personal phone camera

• https://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/willard-bay/

• https://www.visitutah.com/places-to-go/parks-outdoors/willard-bay/

• Interviewing park rangers/ employees

• http://www.reserveamerica.com/marketing/html/marketingHTML/pix/willardbayB.jpg

• https://www.bing.com/maps?q=willard+bay+state+park&form=EDGTCT&qs=PF&cvid

=8506c89e4b7f4c1098fae82889a51bc5&refig=f4be877ccd424e7f9e5a43c152565e2d&cc

=US&setlang=en-

US&elv=AQj93OAhDTi*HzTv1paQdnipZtrVHCnWm2%21%2139NhVTUzXSl2OtYQ

V4szN%21ZxWHpsZIO3%21BLIQEBCHtPV%21Zv7zGP7%212OOLapepZbiW9YZxp

ud&PC=HCTS