Publications

This report presents a preliminary emergency assessment of the debris-flow hazards from drainage basins burned by the 2013 West Fork Fire Complex near South Fork in southwestern Colorado. Empirical models derived from statistical evaluation of data collected from recently burned basins throughout the intermountain western United States were used to estimate the probability of debris-flow

During 2010-2011, a study was conducted in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI) to evaluate the influence of pack animals (stock) and backpackers on water quality in wilderness lakes and streams. The study had three main components: (1) a synoptic survey of water quality in wilderness areas of the parks, (2) paired water-quality sampling above and below several areas with...

Fourteen monitoring wells completed in the Uinta and Green River Formations in the Piceance Creek and Yellow Creek watersheds in Rio Blanco County, Colorado, were sampled for chemical, isotopic, and groundwater-age tracers to provide information on the overall groundwater quality, the occurrence and distribution of chemicals that could be related to the development of underlying natural...

Fourteen monitoring wells were sampled by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, to better understand the chemistry and age of groundwater in the Piceance structural basin in Rio Blanco County, Colorado, and how they may relate to the development of underlying natural-gas reservoirs. Natural gas extraction in the area has been ongoing since at...

Mitigating the effects of salt and selenium on water quality in the Grand Valley and lower Gunnison River Basin in western Colorado is a major concern for land managers. Previous modeling indicated means to improve the models by including more detailed geospatial data and a more rigorous method for developing the models. After evaluating all possible combinations of geospatial variables...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with Metro Wastewater Reclamation District (Metro District), studied biosolids composition and the effects of biosolids applications on groundwater quality and trace-element concentrations in crops of the Metro District properties near Deer Trail, Colorado, during 2004 through 2010. Priority parameters for each monitoring component...

The purpose of the Arkansas Valley Conduit (AVC) is to deliver water for municipal and industrial use within the boundaries of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District. Water supplied through the AVC would serve two needs: (1) to supplement or replace existing poor-quality water to communities downstream from Pueblo Reservoir; and (2) to meet a portion of the AVC participants...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service has identified hazard concerns for areas downstream from five Colorado dams on Forest Service land. In 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Forest Service, initiated a flood hydrology analysis to estimate the areal extent of potential downstream flood inundation and hazard to downstream life, property, and...

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, assessed the potential use of combining recently (2007 to 2010) and formerly (1992 to 1996) collected data to compare plains fish assemblages sampled from random and fixed sites located in the South Platte and Arkansas River Basins in Colorado. The first step was to determine if fish assemblages collected...

Effects of contaminants on adult aquatic insect emergence are less well understood than effects on insect larvae. We compared responses of larval density and adult emergence along a metal contamination gradient. Nonlinear threshold responses were generally observed for larvae and emergers. Larval densities decreased significantly at low metal concentrations but precipitously at...

Toll Gate Creek is a perennial stream draining a suburban area in Aurora, Colorado, where selenium concentrations have consistently exceeded the State of Colorado aquatic-life standard for selenium of 4.6 micrograms per liter since the early 2000s. In cooperation with the City of Aurora, Colorado, Utilities Department, a synoptic water-quality study was performed along an 18-kilometer...

Boreal ecosystems represent a large carbon (C) reservoir and a substantial source of greenhouse gases. Hydrologic conditions dictate whether C leached from boreal soils is processed in catchments or flushed to less productive environments via the stream. This study quantified hydrologic and biogeochemical C loss from a boreal catchment underlain by frozen silt, where flowpaths may deepen...