What looks like a field of mountain rubble high in Utah’s Wasatch Range is actually concealing a massive, subterranean ice reservoir.
A new study by geologists at the University of Utah reveals that the Timpanogos Rock Glacier beneath Mount Timpanogos holds enough ice to fill roughly 600 Olympic swimming pools.
Key Highlights
- 83% Ice: Using sensitive gravimeters to measure subtle changes in density across 232 grid locations, researchers built a 3D map revealing the formation is 83% ice and only 17% rock, reaching depths up to 120 feet.
- Preserved by Debris: The glacier formed over thousands of years as eroding mountain cliffs dropped rocks over persistent snow, burying and shielding the ice from melting.
- Massive Water Reserve: Utah's 836 rock glaciers could store about 1 gigaton of water. Globally, roughly 50,000 rock glaciers could hold 48 gigatons of hidden fresh water.
Source: Science Daily
