Upper Animas River Basin Abandoned Mine Lands Initiative
Science Center Objects
The USGS Abandoned Mine Lands Initiative (AMLI) is developing and demonstrating scientific knowledge and technologies that will help Federal land management agencies clean up contamination in areas near abandoned hardrock mines across the Nation. The Initiative is being conducted in two pilot watersheds, the Upper Animas River Basin in Colorado and the Boulder River watershed in Montana, where the USGS is partnering with the U.S. Forest Service, BLM, NPS, EPA, and State agencies in Colorado and Montana.
OBJECTIVES:
- To define background (premining) conditions.
- To define baseline (current) conditions.
- To identify target sites that contribute most to environmental deterioration.
- To characterize target sites and processes for contaminant dispersal.
- To characterize ecosystem health and controlling processes.
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Date published: May 10, 2018Status: ActiveGold King Mine release (2015): USGS water-quality data and activities
On August 5, 2015, U.S. EPA was conducting an investigation of the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado. While excavating as part of the investigation, water began leaking from the mine tunnel, and about three million gallons of water and sediment were released into Cement Creek, a tributary of the Animas River. The USGS provided pre- and post-release water-quality and streamflow data from...
Contacts: Suzanne Paschke, Katie Walton-DayAttribution: Water Resources -
Date published: September 30, 2007Status: CompletedUSGS Abandoned Mine Lands Initiative
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted an Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) Initiative during the fiscal years 1997 through 2001 to provide technical assistance in support of Federal Land Management Agency (FLMA) actions to remediate contamination associated with abandoned hard rock mining activities. This initiative was part of a larger strategy by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U....
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Year Published: 2007Integrated investigations of environmental effects of historical mining in the Animas River Watershed, San Juan County, Colorado
This publication comprises a Volume Contents of chapters (listed below) and a CD-ROM of data (contents shown in column at right). The Animas River watershed in southwest Colorado is one of many watersheds in the western United States where historical mining has left a legacy of acid mine drainage and elevated concentrations of potentially toxic...
Church, Stan E.; Von Guerard, Paul; Finger, Susan E.Attribution: Colorado Water Science Center, Columbia Environmental Research Center, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center, Ecosystems, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Environmental Health Program, Region 4: Mississippi BasinView CitationIntegrated Investigations of Environmental Effects of Historical Mining in the Animas River Watershed, San Juan County, Colorado; 2007; PP; 1651; Edited by Church, Stanley E.; Von Guerard, Paul; Finger, Susan E.
Estimating metal concentrations with regression analysis and water-quality surrogates at nine sites on the Animas and San Juan Rivers, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah
The purpose of this report is to evaluate the use of site-specific regression models to estimate metal concentrations at nine U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging stations on the Animas and San Juan Rivers in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. Downstream users could use these regression models to determine if metal concentrations are elevated and...
Mast, Alisa
Evaluating remedial alternatives for an acid mine drainage stream: A model post audit
A post audit for a reactive transport model used to evaluate acid mine drainage treatment systems is presented herein. The post audit is based on a paired synoptic approach in which hydrogeochemical data are collected at low (existing conditions) and elevated (following treatment) pH. Data obtained under existing, low-pH conditions are used for...
Runkel, Robert L.; Kimball, Briant A.; Walton-Day, Katherine; Verplanck, Philip L.; Broshears, Robert E. An approach to quantify sources, seasonal change, and biogeochemical processes affecting metal loading in streams: Facilitating decisions for remediation of mine drainage
Historical mining has left complex problems in catchments throughout the world. Land managers are faced with making cost-effective plans to remediate mine influences. Remediation plans are facilitated by spatial mass-loading profiles that indicate the locations of metal mass-loading, seasonal changes, and the extent of biogeochemical processes....
Kimball, B.A.; Runkel, R.L.; Walton-Day, K.
Geochemical data for Upper Mineral Creek, Colorado, under existing ambient conditions and during an experimental pH modification, August 2005
Mineral Creek, an acid mine drainage stream in south-western Colorado, was the subject of a water-quality study that employed a paired synoptic approach. Under the paired synoptic approach, two synoptic sampling campaigns were conducted on the same study reach. The initial synoptic campaign, conducted August 22, 2005, documented stream-water...
Runkel, Robert L.; Kimball, Briant A.; Steiger, Judy I.; Walton-Day, Katherine A comparison of pre- and post-remediation water quality, Mineral Creek, Colorado
Pre- and post-remediation data sets are used herein to assess the effectiveness of remedial measures implemented in the headwaters of the Mineral Creek watershed, where contamination from hard rock mining has led to elevated metal concentrations and acidic pH. Collection of pre- and post-remediation data sets generally followed the synoptic mass...
Runkel, R.L.; Bencala, K.E.; Kimball, B.A.; Walton-Day, K.; Verplanck, P.L. Application of iron and zinc isotopes to track the sources and mechanisms of metal loading in a mountain watershed
Here the hydrogeochemical constraints of a tracer dilution study are combined with Fe and Zn isotopic measurements to pinpoint metal loading sources and attenuation mechanisms in an alpine watershed impacted by acid mine drainage. In the tested mountain catchment, δ56Fe and δ66Zn isotopic signatures of filtered stream water samples...
Borrok, D.M.; Wanty, R.B.; Ian, Ridley W.; Lamothe, P.J.; Kimball, B.A.; Verplanck, P.L.; Runkel, R.L. Copper isotope fractionation in acid mine drainage
We measured the Cu isotopic composition of primary minerals and stream water affected by acid mine drainage in a mineralized watershed (Colorado, USA). The δ65Cu values (based on 65Cu/63Cu) of enargite (δ65Cu = −0.01 ± 0.10‰; 2σ) and chalcopyrite (δ65Cu = 0.16 ± 0.10‰) are within the range of reported...
Kimball, B.E.; Mathur, R.; Dohnalkova, A.C.; Wall, A.J.; Runkel, R.L.; Brantley, S.L. Naturally acidic surface and ground waters draining porphyry-related mineralized areas of the Southern Rocky Mountains, Colorado and New Mexico
Acidic, metal-rich waters produced by the oxidative weathering and resulting leaching of major and trace elements from pyritic rocks can adversely affect water quality in receiving streams and riparian ecosystems. Five study areas in the southern Rocky Mountains with naturally acidic waters associated with porphyry mineralization were studied to...
Verplanck, P.L.; Nordstrom, D. Kirk; Bove, D.J.; Plumlee, G.S.; Runkel, R.L. The use of fluoride as a natural tracer in water and the relationship to geological features: Examples from the Animas River Watershed, San Juan Mountains, Silverton, Colorado
Investigations within the Silverton caldera, in southwestern Colorado, used a combination of traditional geological mapping, alteration-assemblage mapping, and aqueous geochemical sampling that showed a relationship between geological and hydrologic features that may be used to better understand the provenance and evolution of the water. Veins...
Bove, D.J.; Walton-Day, K.; Kimball, B.A. Metals fate and transport modelling in streams and watersheds: state of the science and USEPA workshop review
Metals pollution in surface waters from point and non-point sources (NPS) is a widespread problem in the United States and worldwide (Lofts et al., 2007; USEPA, 2007). In the western United States, metals associated with acid mine drainage (AMD) from hardrock mines in mountainous areas impact aquatic ecosystems and human health (USEPA, 1997a;...
Caruso, B.S.; Cox, T.J.; Runkel, Robert L.; Velleux, M.L.; Bencala, Kenneth E.; Nordstrom, D. Kirk; Julien, P.Y.; Butler, B.A.; Alpers, Charles N.; Marion, A.; Smith, Kathleen S.
Environmental effects of historical mining in the Animas River watershed, southwestern Colorado
The U.S. Geological Survey has completed an extensive environmental study of the effects of historical mining on water and sediment quality and aquatic and riparian habitat in the Animas River watershed upstream from Silverton, Colorado. Results from this study are being used by Federal and State agencies and by the local watershed stakeholders...
Church, Stan E. Geochemistry of Surface and Ground Water in Cement Creek from Gladstone to Georgia Gulch and in Prospect Gulch, San Juan County, Colorado
In San Juan County, Colo., the effects of historical mining continue to contribute metals to ground water and surface water. Previous research by the U.S. Geological Survey identified ground-water discharge as a significant pathway for the loading of metals to surface water in the upper Animas River watershed from both acid-mine drainage and acid-...
Johnson, Raymond H.; Wirt, Laurie; Manning, Andrew H.; Leib, Kenneth J.; Fey, David L.; Yager, Douglas B.
Current Streamflow and Water-Quality Monitoring at Select Sites in the Animas and San Juan River Basins, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah
The USGS monitors current streamflow and water-quality conditions at various sites in the Animas and San Juan River Basins in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, including areas below the Gold King Mine release area. These streamgages provide continuous data on streamflow and select water-quality constituents including specific conductance, water temperature, pH, and turbidity.
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Date published: January 1, 2018Calibration datasets and model archive summaries for regression models developed to estimate metal concentrations at nine sites on the Animas and San Juan Rivers, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066
This data release supports the following publication: Mast, M. A., 2018, Estimating metal concentrations with regression analysis and water-quality surrogates at nine sites on the Animas and San Juan Rivers, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5116. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U. S. Envir
Attribution: Region 7: Upper Colorado Basin, Colorado Water Science Center
Ross basin, upper Cement Creek in Watershed above North Fork Cement Creek
Western view toward the Red Mountains near Silverton, Colorado, taken just upstream from the North Fork Cement Creek drainage in 2006. The photo illustrates acidic drainage (red drainage at right) and less acidic drainage (white drainage at left of photo) that originates from altered rocks and mines in the watershed. Black rocks in foreground are mine waste clasts coated
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Ross Basin, Colorado
Western view toward the Red Mountains near Silverton, Colorado, taken just upstream from the North Fork Cement Creek drainage in 2006. The photo illustrates acidic drainage (red drainage at right) and less acidic drainage (white drainage at left of photo) that originates from altered rocks and mines in the watershed. Black rocks in foreground are mine waste clasts coated
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Cement Creek, Colorado, Acid Mine Drainage Investigations Site
Cement Creek, Colorado, is a site of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) investigations of the fate of acid mine drainage. USGS scientists are developing methods to characterize contaminated streams that can be used by water-resource managers to make better cleanup decisions.
Mine drainage in Cement Creek, Colorado
Influx of metal-rich groundwater from natural springs (foreground) to Cement Creek, Colorado (background)