July 2026 Updates: Parkfield 2.0 Workshop, Topliff and Cedar Hills Submissions, Thousand Lake Published, and Sabbatical Reading List
The 2026 Summer is more than half over and it is hot here in Orem. The past two days (July 11-12) reached record high temperatures (All time, not daily) and looking at the weather map it was no joke. Afternoon temperatures were between 101 and 112 across the Wasatch Front and over 95 on the Wasatch Back, even in places like Park City! It's still not as hot as Phoenix was and cool enough for recreating pleasantly in the mornings, so I will be thankful for that! Summer has been relaxed this year with very little travel for Debjani and me, but it has continued to be productive: In May, I led a week of our Geology Field capstone course right here along the northern Provo segment of the Wasatch fault zone. Students created a geomorphic/geologic strip map of the fault zone from Cedar Hills (in the North) to Battle Creek Trailhead on the southeast side of the town of Pleasant Grove. Some student maps were really quite impressive (see below - by Parker J.). That week of work has led...