Where to Find Gypsum in Utah
Utah gypsum is widespread in the Paradox basin and the Carmel and Arapien formations of central and southern Utah. The San Rafael Swell exposes selenite blades and rosette clusters in the Carmel Formation outcrops along the swell's eastern flank, and the Arapien Shale near Salina in Sevier County produces clear, water-grade selenite up to 30 centimeters. The shoreline of the Great Salt Lake yields hopper-style selenite crystals in muddy salt flats, and the Kanab area in Kane County turns out massive alabaster and satin-spar veins in the Moenkopi Formation. Selenite is soft (Mohs 2) and scratches easily, so transport in padded boxes.
Spot list checked against source data on April 1, 2026.
Map of 29 gypsum collecting spots in Utah
Standout gypsum spots in Utah
Hand-picked from the full list below, with the reason each one earns a trip.
Frisco
Beaver County County
Frisco combines a major historic silver-lead camp with a long mineral list that includes copper carbonates, galena, sphalerite, pyrite, opal, and wulfenite. Mindat documents the San Francisco district's specimen minerals, while USGS mapping and Utah history sources place the locality in one of Beaver County's most important mining landscapes.
Gold Hill
Tooele County County
Gold Hill is one of Utah's most mineralogically varied old districts, with arsenic, gold, copper, lead, silver, tungsten, and zinc production tied to skarn, vein, and replacement deposits. UGS identifies it as Utah's leading historical producer of tungsten and arsenic, and Mindat records a broad suite of collectible secondary copper, lead, and zinc minerals around the district.
Great Salt Lake
Tooele County County
The Tooele side of Great Salt Lake offers an unusual sediment specimen rather than a hard-rock target: oolitic sand made of calcium-carbonate coats around tiny nuclei in shallow, wave-agitated brine. UGS documents accessible oolitic dunes on BLM public lands at Stansbury Island and explains that Great Salt Lake sand is often chemically grown in the lake rather than washed down as quartz grains.
Best counties for gypsum in Utah
Ranked by the number of mapped gypsum spots. County links open the full rockhounding page for that county.
Every gypsum spot we track in Utah
Sorted by county. Coordinates open in Google Maps.
Before you go
Read the gypsum identification guide so you know what a keeper looks like in the field: Gypsum in the encyclopedia.
Gypsum in Utah FAQ
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More minerals to hunt in Utah
Hunt gypsum in Utah with the map in your pocket
RockHoundR puts these spots on an offline map with BLM and Forest Service overlays, geology layers, and a log for your finds.
