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Colorado River Basin: Actionable and Strategic Integrated Science and Technology

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Debris Flows Caused by Rain after Wildfires

USGS Landslide Hazards Program

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Sediment Coring of Lake Powell

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Great Salt Lake Studies

Study Information

Colorado River Basin Studies in Utah

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Region 7: Upper Colorado Basin

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Region 7: Upper Colorado Basin includes the States of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. USGS Science Centers in the Region conduct interdisciplinary research and monitoring related to natural resources, ecology, climate, and natural hazards. Data, analyses, and tools developed by USGS staff help stakeholders to make sustainable management decisions.

Map of Region 7: Upper Colorado Basin

Region 7--Upper Colorado Basin (map)

Map Showing USGS/DOI Unified Region 7 and adjoining Regions

Key USGS Region 7: Upper Colorado Basin Contacts

USGS Region 7: Upper Colorado Basin Offices and Science Centers

News

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USGS Media Alert: USGS crews continue to measure and assess Yellowstone River flood conditions and probabilities

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Media Alert: Helicopter Will Survey Portions of the Colorado River Basin for Water Studies

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New Energy and Minerals Research Facility Enters Design Phase

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Publications

Continental shelves as detrital mixers: U-Pb and Lu-Hf detrital zircon provenance of the Pleistocene–Holocene Bering Sea and its margins

Continental shelves serve as critical transfer zones in sediment-routing systems, linking the terrestrial erosional and deep-water depositional domains. The degree to which clastic sediment is mixed and homogenized during transfer across broad shelves has important implications for understanding deep-sea detrital records. Wide continental shelves are thought to act as capacitors characterized by t
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Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Characterization of and temporal changes in groundwater quality of the Upper Black Squirrel Creek Basin, El Paso County, Colorado, 2018–20

In 2018–20, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Upper Black Squirrel Creek Ground Water Management District, sampled 48 wells for Phase III of a multiphase plan investigating groundwater quality in the alluvial aquifer of the Upper Black Squirrel Creek Basin (UBSB), El Paso County, Colorado. Results for samples collected from October to December each year were used to assess spatial an
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Water Resources, Colorado Water Science Center

Microplastic particles in dust-on-snow, Upper Colorado River Basin, Colorado Rocky Mountains, 2013–16

Atmospheric dust deposited to snow cover (dust-on-snow) diminishes snow-surface albedo (SSA) to result in early onset and accelerated rate of melting, effects that challenge management of downstream water resources. During ongoing investigations to identify the light-energy absorbing dust particles most responsible for diminished SSA in the Upper Colorado River Basin of the Colorado Rocky Mountain
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Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center
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Science

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View of Lake Powell from hill, USGS boat beached on shore below looks tiny.

New study confirms loss of storage capacity in Lake Powell

Beginning in 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, completed topobathymetric surveys of Lake Powell for the first update of elevation-area-capacity relationships since 1986. The recent report presents results of these surveys and comparisons with estimates from previous surveys. Current storage capacity at full pool (3702.91 feet above NAVD 88) is 25,160...
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Utah Water Science Center
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New study confirms loss of storage capacity in Lake Powell

Beginning in 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, completed topobathymetric surveys of Lake Powell for the first update of elevation-area-capacity relationships since 1986. The recent report presents results of these surveys and comparisons with estimates from previous surveys. Current storage capacity at full pool (3702.91 feet above NAVD 88) is 25,160...
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Cheatgrass on a frosty morning

Invasive Annual Grass (IAG) Spatial Dataset Compilation and Synthesis

USGS is working closely with partners in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Intermountain West Joint Venture (IMJV) to collect and summarize spatial datasets that describe measurable aspects of invasive annual grasses (e.g., biomass or presence) across the western United Stated and beyond. The products developed through this project provide...
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Ecosystems, Sage-grouse & Sagebrush Ecosystem, Fort Collins Science Center
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Invasive Annual Grass (IAG) Spatial Dataset Compilation and Synthesis

USGS is working closely with partners in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Intermountain West Joint Venture (IMJV) to collect and summarize spatial datasets that describe measurable aspects of invasive annual grasses (e.g., biomass or presence) across the western United Stated and beyond. The products developed through this project provide...
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geothermal springs

Integrated Hyperspectral, Geophysical and Geochemical Studies of Yellowstone National Park Hydrothermal Systems

We are researching the subsurface groundwater flow systems in Yellowstone and the relation of these systems to understanding the regional movement of water in a volcanic center. New geophysical data will be integrated with existing data sets from hyperspectral data from Yellowstone's thermal areas and thermal water geochemistry to help define regionally extensive mineral assemblages, the evolution...
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Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center
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Integrated Hyperspectral, Geophysical and Geochemical Studies of Yellowstone National Park Hydrothermal Systems

We are researching the subsurface groundwater flow systems in Yellowstone and the relation of these systems to understanding the regional movement of water in a volcanic center. New geophysical data will be integrated with existing data sets from hyperspectral data from Yellowstone's thermal areas and thermal water geochemistry to help define regionally extensive mineral assemblages, the evolution...
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