University of Utah researchers have revealed that Mount Timpanogos and state mountain ranges may contain an estimated one billion tons of underground ice, uncovered through a novel gravity-measurement technique. The findings could reshape how scientists calculate water storage in rock glaciers amid a growing regional water crisis.
When hikers trek across the loose rocks and steep ridges of Utah’s Wasatch and Uinta ranges, they are often walking blind. Beneath a dense outer shell of rocky debris lies an immense, hidden reservoir of frozen water. A team of geologists at the University of Utah has spent months computing data from field campaigns to unveil the internal structure of these mysterious landforms, offering a clear picture of how much water is trapped inside them.
Mapping Mount Timpanogos With a Sensitive Gravimeter
The research focused primarily on the Mount Timpanogos rock glacier, a formation roughly 5,000 feet above Provo. Researchers selected the site because of its accessibility via a five-mile trail, despite the physical toll of hauling equipment up the mountain.
During field campaigns, former graduate student Bronson Cvijanovich carried heavy instrumentation, including a state-of-the-art gravimeter, across unstable boulders. Over the course of six forays, Cvijanovich took gravity readings at 232 separate spots arranged in a grid across the surface of the rock glacier. Because traditional ground-penetrating radar fails when radio waves scatter off rocky debris, the team relied on gravity to detect density differences between solid mountain rock and the much lighter ice hidden below.
After correcting the raw gravity data for factors such as the positions of the sun and moon, latitude, elevation, and local terrain, the researchers ran advanced Bayesian statistical models. The resulting three-dimensional map revealed that the Timpanogos Rock Glacier is composed of approximately 83 percent ice and 17 percent loose rock by volume.
Calculating a Billion Tons of Hidden Water Across Utah
The scale of the Timpanogos formation is significant. The researchers calculated that its hidden ice volume reaches roughly 1.5 million cubic meters—comparable to the volume of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt or about 600 Olympic swimming pools. In metric terms, that single rock glacier holds about 1.4 million metric tons of ice.
When applied across the state, the projections scale up.
Utah is home to roughly 836 documented rock glaciers. Based on their models, the researchers estimate that these formations collectively hold about 1 gigaton—or one billion tons—of hidden ice.
That frozen reserve translates to roughly 815,000 acre-feet of water, a vital consideration for a dry state facing recurring environmental pressures. There’s a water crisis,
glaciologist Leif Anderson noted, emphasizing the need to account for water sources previously left out of regional planning.
How Rock Glaciers Form and Survive a Warming Climate
Unlike traditional alpine glaciers that sit exposed to the elements, rock glaciers are protected by a thick thermal blanket of scree and boulders. These landforms typically develop beneath steep mountain valleys where frequent rockfalls bury persistent snowfields. Over millennia, repeated cycles of falling debris insulate the underlying snow, allowing it to compact into dense ice that slowly creeps downslope like a viscous flow of rock and ice.
This rocky armor makes rock glaciers more resilient to global temperature increases than conventional glaciers.
Yet, that resilience has limits. Quantifying their internal water stores gives hydrologists and hazard managers essential data to better model local water supplies and environmental risks.
Broader Implications for Western Geology and Hydrology
The methodological breakthrough could extend far beyond the Wasatch and Uinta ranges. By proving that high-resolution gravimetry can successfully image these hidden structures in 3D, the University of Utah team has provided a new analytical tool for geologists worldwide.
“This method allows us to understand the hidden shape of the ice body, and that’s essential for any future projection of a glacier, a rock glacier, whatever it is. The fact that we now have a good method to quantify how much volume of ice there is can revolutionize the field.”
Leif Anderson, assistant professor of glaciology, via Daily Utah Chronicle
Refining these underground measurement techniques will help scientists track how water availability shifts across arid mountain regions in the decades ahead.
