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Katie Walton-Day

Katie is a Research Hydrologist with the Colorado Water Science Center

Katie obtained M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in geology from the Colorado School of Mines. She is a research hydrologist and has worked at the U.S. Geological Survey located in Denver, Colorado for over 30 years. During this time her research has primarily focused on understanding the sources and mobility of trace metals associated with hard rock and uranium mineral deposits primarily in the western United States.  A primary goal of her research is to provide science-based information to facilitate decisions about remediation in areas contaminated by historic mining practices.  

 

Education and Certifications

  • Ph.D. Geology from the Colorado School of Mines

  • M.S. Geology from the Colorado School of Mines

Science and Products

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Canyon Mine Sampling

Minerals Science Team

The Minerals Integrated Science Team focuses on contaminant exposures in the environment that might originate from mineral resource activities including, transportation, storage, extraction and waste management. Perceived health risks to humans and other organisms will be distinguished from actual risks, if any. If actual risks are identified this Team will inform how to economically and...
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Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology
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Minerals Science Team

The Minerals Integrated Science Team focuses on contaminant exposures in the environment that might originate from mineral resource activities including, transportation, storage, extraction and waste management. Perceived health risks to humans and other organisms will be distinguished from actual risks, if any. If actual risks are identified this Team will inform how to economically and...
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Ross Basin, Colorado

Upper Arkansas River Basin Toxics and Synoptic Studies

From 1986 to 2001, the Upper Arkansas Toxics Project focused on metal transport in streams affected by mining. Studies were conducted to quantify the physical, chemical, and biological processes affecting trace metal fate and transport.
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Toxic Substances Hydrology, Colorado Water Science Center
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Upper Arkansas River Basin Toxics and Synoptic Studies

From 1986 to 2001, the Upper Arkansas Toxics Project focused on metal transport in streams affected by mining. Studies were conducted to quantify the physical, chemical, and biological processes affecting trace metal fate and transport.
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Photo of USGS streamgage 09358550 at Cement Creek at Silverton, Colorado.

Gold 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...
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Water Resources
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Gold 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...
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Lake Fork Creek below Sugarloaf dam near Leadville

Watershed Contamination from Hard Rock Mining

Since 1986, the USGS Hard-Rock Mining Toxic-Substances Hydrology Project has focused on metal transport in streams affected by mining. Tracer-injection studies in St. Kevin Gulch, near Leadville, Colorado, helped the USGS design methods to characterize loading from mining activities on a watershed scale. Tracer-injection studies were done in 1995, in support of the planning needs of ederal Land...
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Colorado Water Science Center
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Watershed Contamination from Hard Rock Mining

Since 1986, the USGS Hard-Rock Mining Toxic-Substances Hydrology Project has focused on metal transport in streams affected by mining. Tracer-injection studies in St. Kevin Gulch, near Leadville, Colorado, helped the USGS design methods to characterize loading from mining activities on a watershed scale. Tracer-injection studies were done in 1995, in support of the planning needs of ederal Land...
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Canyon Mine Sampling

U.S. Geological Survey Develops Approach to Assess Baseline Chemical and Radiological Conditions Prior to Uranium Mining near Grand Canyon National Park

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists developed an approach and collected baseline data to quantitatively assess offsite migration of mine-related contaminants and to identify critical contaminant exposure pathways that could result from uranium mining activities in the Grand Canyon region.
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Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology
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U.S. Geological Survey Develops Approach to Assess Baseline Chemical and Radiological Conditions Prior to Uranium Mining near Grand Canyon National Park

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists developed an approach and collected baseline data to quantitatively assess offsite migration of mine-related contaminants and to identify critical contaminant exposure pathways that could result from uranium mining activities in the Grand Canyon region.
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View of three USGS Visual Identity items

Metal Concentrations and Loads in Leavenworth Creek, Colorado

Metal loading from abandoned mines and groundwater in Leavenworth Creek causes aquatic life water-quality standards to be exceeded at the mouth of Leavenworth Creek.
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Colorado Water Science Center
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Metal Concentrations and Loads in Leavenworth Creek, Colorado

Metal loading from abandoned mines and groundwater in Leavenworth Creek causes aquatic life water-quality standards to be exceeded at the mouth of Leavenworth Creek.
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USGS

Upper Arkansas Toxic-Substances Hydrology

Since 1986, the USGS Hard-Rock Mining Toxic-Substances Hydrology Project has focused on metal transport in streams affected by mining. Tracer-injection studies in St. Kevin Gulch, near Leadville, Colorado, helped the USGS design methods to characterize loading from mining activities on a watershed scale. Tracer-injection studies were done in 1995, in support of the planning needs of ederal Land...
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Colorado Water Science Center
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Upper Arkansas Toxic-Substances Hydrology

Since 1986, the USGS Hard-Rock Mining Toxic-Substances Hydrology Project has focused on metal transport in streams affected by mining. Tracer-injection studies in St. Kevin Gulch, near Leadville, Colorado, helped the USGS design methods to characterize loading from mining activities on a watershed scale. Tracer-injection studies were done in 1995, in support of the planning needs of ederal Land...
Learn More
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USGS

Sources of Metal Loading to the Lake Fork from Turquoise Lake to the confluence with the Arkansas River

The Lake Fork emerges from the outlet of Turquoise Lake at the Sugarloaf dam and flows approximately 5 miles before joining the upper Arkansas River. The first reach of the Lake Fork downstream from the dam is affected by drainage from abandoned mines in the Sugarloaf mining district. Whereas remediation of some of the mine sites has been initiated, Federal Land holders are interested in assessing...
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Colorado Water Science Center
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Sources of Metal Loading to the Lake Fork from Turquoise Lake to the confluence with the Arkansas River

The Lake Fork emerges from the outlet of Turquoise Lake at the Sugarloaf dam and flows approximately 5 miles before joining the upper Arkansas River. The first reach of the Lake Fork downstream from the dam is affected by drainage from abandoned mines in the Sugarloaf mining district. Whereas remediation of some of the mine sites has been initiated, Federal Land holders are interested in assessing...
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View of three USGS Visual Identity items

Effects of Fluvial Tailings Deposits on Receiving Waters in the Upper Arkansas River Basin, Lake County, Colorado

Fluvial tailings deposits stored in the floodplain of the upper Arkansas River represent a potential nonpoint source of contamination to surface and ground waters. The U.S. Geological Survey has been cooperating with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to monitor a lowcost, insitu remediation technique for the deposits.
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Colorado Water Science Center
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Effects of Fluvial Tailings Deposits on Receiving Waters in the Upper Arkansas River Basin, Lake County, Colorado

Fluvial tailings deposits stored in the floodplain of the upper Arkansas River represent a potential nonpoint source of contamination to surface and ground waters. The U.S. Geological Survey has been cooperating with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to monitor a lowcost, insitu remediation technique for the deposits.
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View of Cement Creek, Colorado

Upper Animas River Basin Abandoned Mine Lands Initiative

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...
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Colorado Water Science Center
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Upper Animas River Basin Abandoned Mine Lands Initiative

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...
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Water-quality data for stream and hyporheic zone samples altered by injection of sodium bromide tracer during a synoptic-sampling study, Leavenworth Creek, Clear Creek County, Colorado, 2012

Leavenworth Creek, a tributary of South Clear Creek and Clear Creek near Georgetown, Colorado contains copper, lead, and zinc concentrations that are near to or exceed aquatic life standards. The creek drains the Argentine mining district where mining was active primarily in the early 1900s. In the summer of 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a metal-loading study using tracer dilu
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Colorado Water Science Center

Stream discharge, sodium, bromide, and specific conductance data for stream and hyporheic zone samples affected by injection of sodium bromide tracer, Leavenworth Creek, Clear Creek County, Colorado, August 2012

Leavenworth Creek, a tributary of South Clear Creek and Clear Creek near Georgetown, Colorado contains copper, lead, and zinc concentrations that are near to or exceed aquatic life standards. The creek drains the Argentine mining district where mining was active primarily in the early 1900s. In the summer of 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a metal-loading study using tracer dilut
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Colorado Water Science Center

Geochemical data from batch experiments to test mobility of trace elements downgradient from breccia-pipe uranium deposits

This data release includes solid and aqueous chemical data related to a set of sequential laboratory batch experiments conducted to test and simulate the mobility of trace elements as natural waters contact ore from breccia pipe uranium (BPU) deposits located in northern Arizona. The experiments made use of aquifer-related, sedimentary rocks collected specifically for this study and archival ore m
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Colorado Water Science Center

Soil sample data for four uranium mine sites, Mohave County, Arizona, April and November 2018

This U.S. Geological Survey data release is a spreadsheet containing soil-profile measurements of ambient spring and fall water-potential and water-content conditions, and physical and chemical properties for four mine sites, Mohave County, Arizona, April and November 2018. The four mines sampled in both April and November were Kanab North (native soil and reclaimed soil), EZ2 (native soil), Arizo
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Nevada Water Science Center

Water quality and discharge data from draining mine tunnels near Silverton, Colorado 1993-2015

The American Tunnel, the Black Hawk mine, the Gold King mine, the Mogul mine, and the Red and Bonita mine are located in the Cement Creek watershed, tributary to the upper Animas River near Silverton, Colorado. All five sites have tunnels that drain groundwater from abandoned underground mine workings to the surface. This draining water has elevated concentrations of metals and degrades water qual
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Colorado Water Science Center

Surrogate regression models for computation of time series suspended-sediment concentrations at Muddy Creek above Paonia Reservoir, Anthracite Creek above mouth near Somerset, and North Fork Gunnison below Raven Gulch near Somerset, Colorado

This model archive summary documents the surrogate regression model used to compute suspended-sediment concentrations at Muddy Creek above Paonia Reservoir, CO, USGS site number 385903107210800. The methods used follow U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) guidance as referenced in relevant Office of Surface Water Technical Memorandum (TM) 2016.07 and Office of Water Quality TM 2016.10, and USGS Technique
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Colorado Water Science Center

Surface Materials Data from Breccia-Pipe Uranium Mine and Reference Sites, Arizona, USA

This data release includes elemental analysis of soil samples collected at breccia-pipe uranium mines, at one undeveloped breccia-pipe uranium deposit, and at a reference site in northern Arizona. Samples were collected near the Arizona 1, Canyon, Kanab North, and Pinenut uranium mines, over the EZ2 breccia-pipe uranium deposit, and at the Little Robinson Tank reference site. Samples were collect
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Ecosystems, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Colorado Water Science Center
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Quantification of metal loading using tracer dilution and instantaneous synoptic sampling and importance of diel cycling in Leavenworth Creek, Clear Creek County, Colorado, 2012

Leavenworth Creek, a tributary of South Clear Creek and Clear Creek near Georgetown, Colorado, contains copper, lead, and zinc at concentrations close to or in excess of aquatic-life standards. In the summer of 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety, conducted monitoring to
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Water Resources, Colorado Water Science Center

Water-quality change following remediation using structural bulkheads in abandoned draining mines, upper Arkansas River and upper Animas River, Colorado USA

Water-quality effects after remediating abandoned draining mine tunnels using structural bulkheads were examined in two study areas in Colorado, USA. A bulkhead was installed in the Dinero mine tunnel in 2009 to improve water quality in Lake Fork Creek, a tributary to the upper Arkansas River. Although bulkhead installation improved pH, and manganese and zinc concentrations and loads at the Dinero
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Water Resources, Colorado Water Science Center

Nontuberculous mycobacterial disease and molybdenum in Colorado watersheds

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are environmental bacteria that may cause chronic lung disease. Environmental factors that favor NTM growth likely increase the risk of NTM exposure within specific environments. We aimed to identify water-quality constituents (Al, As, Cd, Ca, Cu, Fe, Pb, Mg, Mn, Mo, Ni, K, Se, Na, Zn, and pH) associated with NTM disease across Colorado watersheds. We conducted a
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Water Resources, Colorado Water Science Center

Improved enrichment factor calculations through principal component analysis: Examples from soils near breccia pipe uranium mines, Arizona, USA

The enrichment factor (EF) is a widely used metric for determining how much the presence of an element in a sampling media has increased relative to average natural abundance because of human activity. Calculation of an EF requires the selection of both a background composition and a reference element, choices that can strongly influence the result of the calculation. Here, it is shown how careful
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Water Resources, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Colorado Water Science Center

Cinnamon gulch revisited: Another look at separating natural and mining-impacted contributions to instream metal load

Baseline, premining data for streams draining abandoned mine lands is virtually non existent, and indirect methods for estimating premining conditions are needed to establish realistic, cost effective cleanup goals. One such indirect method is the proximal analog approach, in which premining conditions are estimated using data from nearby mineralized areas that are unaffected by mining. In this pa
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Water Resources, Colorado Water Science Center

Synoptic sampling and principal components analysis to identify sources of water and metals to an acid mine drainage stream

Combining the synoptic mass balance approach with principal components analysis (PCA) can be an effective method for discretising the chemistry of inflows and source areas in watersheds where contamination is diffuse in nature and/or complicated by groundwater interactions. This paper presents a field-scale study in which synoptic sampling and PCA are employed in a mineralized watershed (Lion Cree
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Water Resources, Colorado Water Science Center

Geochemistry and hydrology of perched groundwater springs: assessing elevated uranium concentrations at Pigeon Spring relative to nearby Pigeon Mine, Arizona (USA)

The processes that affect water chemistry as the water flows from recharge areas through breccia-pipe uranium deposits in the Grand Canyon region of the southwestern United States are not well understood. Pigeon Spring had elevated uranium in 1982 (44 μg/L), compared to other perched springs (2.7–18 μg/L), prior to mining operations at the nearby Pigeon Mine. Perched groundwater springs in an area
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Water Resources, Ecosystems, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Environmental Health Program, Arizona Water Science Center

The precipitation of indium at elevated pH in a stream influenced by acid mine drainage

Indium is an increasingly important metal in semiconductors and electronics and has uses in important energy technologies such as photovoltaic cells and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). One significant flux of indium to the environment is from lead, zinc, copper, and tin mining and smelting, but little is known about its aqueous behavior after it is mobilized. In this study, we use Mineral Creek, a h
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Water Resources, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Colorado Water Science Center

Effects of flow regime on metal concentrations and the attainment of water quality standards in a remediated stream reach, Butte, Montana

Low-flow synoptic sampling campaigns are often used as the primary tool to characterize watersheds affected by mining. Although such campaigns are an invaluable part of site characterization, investigations which focus solely on low-flow conditions may yield misleading results. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate this point and elucidate the mechanisms responsible for the release of meta
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Water Resources, Ecosystems, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Environmental Health Program, Colorado Water Science Center

Establishing a pre-mining geochemical baseline at a uranium mine near Grand Canyon National Park, USA

During 2012, approximately 404,000 ha of Federal Land in northern Arizona was withdrawn from consideration of mineral extraction for a 20-year period to protect the Grand Canyon watershed from potentially adverse effects of U mineral exploration and development. The development, operation, and reclamation of the Canyon Mine during the withdrawal period provide an excellent field site to understand
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Water Resources, Ecosystems, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Environmental Health Program, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Hydrogeochemical effects of a bulkhead in the Dinero mine tunnel, Sugar Loaf mining district, near Leadville, Colorado

The Dinero mine drainage tunnel is an abandoned, draining mine adit near Leadville, Colorado, that has an adverse effect on downstream water quality and aquatic life. In 2009, a bulkhead was constructed (creating a mine pool and increasing water-table elevations behind the tunnel) to limit drainage from the tunnel and improve downstream water quality. The goal of this study was to document changes
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Water Resources, Ecosystems, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Environmental Health Program, Colorado Water Science Center

Geologic sources and concentrations of selenium in the West-Central Denver Basin, including the Toll Gate Creek watershed, Aurora, Colorado, 2003-2007

Toll Gate Creek, in the west-central part of the Denver Basin, is a perennial stream in which concentrations of dissolved selenium have consistently exceeded the Colorado aquatic-life standard of 4.6 micrograms per liter. Recent studies of selenium in Toll Gate Creek identified the Denver lignite zone of the non-marine Cretaceous to Tertiary-aged (Paleocene) Denver Formation underlying the watersh
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Water Resources, Colorado Water Science Center

Pre-USGS Publications

Day, K.W., 1986, Determination of processes controlling vertical trace element distribution in Filson Creek bog, Lake County, Minnesota:  Golden, Colorado School of Mines, M.S. thesis # 3149, 236 p.
Walton-Day, Katherine, 1991, Hydrology and geochemistry of a natural wetland affected by acid mine drainage, St. Kevin Gulch, Lake County, Colorado:  Golden, Colorado School of Mines, Ph.D. dissertation # 4033, 299 p.
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USGS Scientists Study Effects of Gold King Mine Release

On August 5, while investigating the Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency accidentally triggered the...

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