From a distance it looks like nothing more than a sprawling pile of rocks high in Utah’s Wasatch Range. But beneath the rubble of Mount Timpanogos is a spectacular hidden reservoir: ice enough to hold some 1.55 million cubic meters of water, which is about 600 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Now, researchers at the University of Utah have mapped this invisible ice using an unusual approach: measuring tiny variations in gravity across the rocky landscape, the university website reports. It’s the Timpanogos Rock Glacier, one of hundreds of rock glaciers in Utah. Unlike normal glaciers, which are large masses of exposed ice and snow, rock glaciers are covered by a thick mantle of loose rock. That rocky exterior is difficult to study, but below it there may be vast amounts of frozen water, the news report states. Timpanogos Rock Glacier is estimated to be around 83% ice and 17% loose rock and is particularly ice-rich. At its deepest point, the ice is buried about 150 feet beneath the surface. According to glaciologist Leif Anderson, “There’s a lot of ice hiding in Utah’s mountains.” Hikers walking over what seems to be normal rubble may be blissfully unaware that dozens of meters of ice could be underneath. Scroll down to read more about it.
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