Publications

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 trace elements in surface streams. U.S...

Because of the historical deposition of mill tailings in flood plains, the process of determining total maximum daily loads for streams in an area like the Park City mining district of Utah is complicated. Understanding the locations of metal loading to Silver Creek and the relative importance of these locations is necessary to make science-based decisions. Application of tracer...

Transport and chemical transformations of dissolved and colloidal Al, Fe, Cu and Zn were studied by detailed sampling in the mixing zone downstream from the confluence of Cement Creek (pH 4.1) with the Animas River (pH 7.6). Complete mixing resulted in circumneutral pH in the downstream reach of the 1300 m study area. All four metals were transported through this mixing zone without...

Exploration for and production of coalbed methane has increased substantially in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States since the 1990s. During 1999-2004, annual production of natural gas (coalbed methane) from the Raton Basin in Las Animas County, Colorado, increased from 28,129,515 to 80,224,130 thousand cubic feet, and the annual volume of ground water coproduced by coalbed...

Nutrient compounds of nitrogen and phosphorus were investigated in streams and rivers sampled as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. Nutrient data were collected in 20 NAWQA study units during 1992-95, 16 study units during 1996-98, and 15 study units during 1999-2001. To facilitate comparisons among sampling sites with variable sampling...

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Colorado Springs Utilities, the Colorado Water Conservation Board, and the El Paso County Water Authority, began a study in 2004 to (1) apply a stream-aquifer model to Monument Creek, (2) use the results of the modeling to develop a transit-loss accounting program for Monument Creek, (3) revise the existing transit-loss accounting program...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a study from 2002 through 2003 through its National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program to determine the effects of urbanization on the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of stream ecosystems along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The objectives of the study were to (1) examine physical, chemical, and biological...

This report describes the effects of urbanization on physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of stream ecosystems in 28 basins along an urban land-use gradient in the South Platte River Basin, Colorado and Wyoming, from 2002 through 2003. Study basins were chosen to minimize natural variability among basins due to factors such as geology, elevation, and climate and to maximize...

Organochlorine compounds and current-use pesticides were measured in snow and lake-sediment samples from Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and Glacier National Park in Montana to determine their occurrence and distribution in high-elevation aquatic ecosystems. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Park Service, collected snow samples at eight sites in Rocky...

The Raton Basin in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico is undergoing increased development of its coalbed-methane resources. Annual production of methane from coalbeds in the Raton Basin in Huerfano and Las Animas Counties, Colorado, increased from about 28,000,000 thousand cubic feet from 478 wells to about 80,000,000 thousand cubic feet from 1,543 wells, during 1999-2004. Annual...

Nitrate concentrations greater than background levels have been detected in ground water of the High Plains aquifer. Empirically based models and corresponding maps were developed that predict the vulnerability of the aquifer to nonpoint-source nitrate contamination. The models predict the probability of detecting nitrate concentrations larger than 4 milligrams per liter in ground water...

Although remedial actions have taken place at the Gilt Edge mine in the Black Hills of South Dakota, questions remain about a possible hydrologic connection along shear zones between some of the pit lakes at the mine site and Strawberry Creek. Spatially detailed chemical sampling of stream and inflow sites occurred during low-flow conditions in June 2003 as part of a mass-loading study...