Chalk Cliffs, Colorado
Science Center Objects
Chalk Cliffs, located 8 miles southwest of Buena Vista, CO, is one of the most active debris-flow areas in the state.
Recent Conditions
The instrumentation was installed in the summer of 2008 and includes a series of three monitoring stations located along the main channel. Data from one of these stations (Station 1) is transmitted from the site and displayed here.
Data from the sensors are sampled at high rates (2 seconds to 100 hertz) during rain events and every 2 minutes otherwise. Two-minute data are transmitted by cell phone modem from the site to a USGS computer every 5 minutes.
Project Background
Chalk Cliffs, located 8 miles southwest of Buena Vista, CO, is one of the most active debris-flow areas in the state. Typically one or more debris flows occur each year after intense or prolonged rainfall. The debris flows are triggered by surface-water runoff over loose material stored in channels.
The USGS and its cooperators have installed debris-flow monitoring equipment in the largest drainage basin at Chalk Cliffs. Data collection at this site supports research on the hydrologic factors that control debris-flow initiation, entrainment, and flow dynamics.
For More Information
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Coe, J., D. Kinner, J. Godt, Initiation conditions for debris flows generated by runoff at Chalk Cliffs, central Colorado, Geomorphology, v96, April 2008, pp270-297.
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National Weather Service forecast for Chalk Cliffs and vicinity
- Real-time stream gage on Chalk Creek 4 miles downstream from the monitoring basin