The Independence plate. Relief from Copernicus GLO-30; rivers and lakes from USGS NHD; watersheds from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset; roads and city limits from Census TIGER 2024.
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Independence’s center stands about 8,030 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 6,380 ft to 9,430 ft, a difference of 3,050 ft: mountain country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Currant Creek Peak, about 10,520 ft, 7 miles east-southeast.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Oquirrh Group, including Bridal Veil Limestone (sandstone), from the Carboniferous to Permian, 273 to 324 million years old.
The section below crosses 11 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 4×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Sandstone. Age: Carboniferous to Permian, 273 to 324 million years old. About 13 mi of the line.
Conglomerate. Age: Oligocene, 23 to 34 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Sandstone. Age: Late Cretaceous, 72 to 84 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Unconsolidated. Age: Quaternary, less than 2.6 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Shale. Age: Late Cretaceous, 72 to 100 million years old. About 0.9 mi of the line.
Arenite. Age: Middle Jurassic to Late Jurassic, 145 to 175 million years old. About 0.7 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale. 5 smaller units along the line are not listed.
Heights from Copernicus GLO-90 (a surface model: it includes buildings and tree canopy); summits from USGS GNIS; rivers from USGS NHDPlus HR; rock from the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation.
A raindrop that lands in Independence reaches Great Salt Lake by way of Daniels Creek, the Provo and the Jordan: about 100 river miles. Great Salt Lake has no outlet to the sea: the water leaves only by evaporating or soaking into the ground.
Lakes on the way: Utah Lake and Deer Creek Reservoir.
50 miles of the trip are on the Jordan.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Independence; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
