Geology of Boulder, Colorado, United States of America

Bilodeau, Sally W.; Buskirk, Donald Van; Bilodeau, William L.

doi:10.2113/gseegeosci.xxiv.3.289

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…The watershed varies in elevation from 4120-1480 m above sea level, and can be divided into the upper basin, defined on the west by the Continental Divide, and the lower basin, defined on the west by the Rocky Mountain foothills (13). The upper basin is underlain by Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks ( Figure 1A) whereas the lower basin is underlain by Mesozoic and Tertiary sedimentary formations (14)(15)(16). Quaternary alluvium covers much of the Boulder Creek flood plain.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical Loading into Surface Water along a Hydrological, Biogeochemical, and Land Use Gradient: A Holistic Watershed Approach

Barber

Murphy

Verplanck

et al. 2005

Environ. Sci. Technol.

106

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Identifying the sources and impacts of organic and inorganic contaminants at the watershed scale is a complex challenge because of the multitude of processes occurring in time and space. Investigation of geochemical transformations requires a systematic evaluation of hydrologic, landscape, and anthropogenic factors. The 1160 km2 Boulder Creek Watershed in the Colorado Front Range encompasses a gradient of geology, ecotypes, climate, and urbanization. Streamflow originates primarily as snowmelt and shows substantial annual variation. Water samples were collected along a 70-km transect during spring-runoff and base-flow conditions, and analyzed for major elements, trace elements, bulk organics, organic wastewater contaminants (OWCs), and pesticides. Major-element and trace-element concentrations were low in the headwaters, increased through the urban corridor, and had a step increase downstream from the first major wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Boron, gadolinium, and lithium were useful inorganic tracers of anthropogenic inputs. Effluent from the WWTP accounted for as much as 75% of the flow in Boulder Creek and was the largest chemical input. Under both hydrological conditions, OWCs and pesticides were detected in Boulder Creek downstream from the WWTP outfall as well as in the headwater region, and loads of anthropogenic-derived contaminants increased as basin population density increased. This report documents a suite of potential endocrine-disrupting chemicals in a reach of stream with native fish populations showing indication of endocrine disruption.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical Loading into Surface Water along a Hydrological, Biogeochemical, and Land Use Gradient: A Holistic Watershed Approach

Barber

Murphy

Verplanck

et al. 2005

Environ. Sci. Technol.

106

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“…In addition to the differences due to precipitation timing and snowpack accumulation, both sites have different geologic settings and legacies, which shape the different parent materials and soil characteristics of each site. The NR1 site was underlain by granitic and siliceous metamorphic rock (Bilodeau et al, 1987) with a glacial moraine covering the bedrock (Gable & Madole, 1976). At P301, the soils were derived from crystalline intrusive rocks with compositions ranging from granite to diorite (Bales et al, 2011).…”

Section: 1029/2019wr026634mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Counteracting Effects of Snowmelt Rate and Timing on Runoff

Barnhart

Tague

Molotch

2020

Water Resources Research

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The declining mountain snowpack is expected to melt earlier and more slowly with climate warming. Previous work indicates that lower snowmelt rates are associated with decreased runoff. However, earlier snowmelt could increase runoff via lower vegetation water use in early spring. The relative importance of these factors with regard to runoff is linked to site‐specific conditions such as plant available water storage (PAWS) and energy availability. To disentangle the effects of snowmelt rate and timing on runoff production, we conducted a hydrologic modeling experiment at sites in Colorado (NR1) and California (P301) that controlled for snowmelt rate and timing multicollinearity. We tested the sensitivity of snowmelt season potential runoff (R), changes in subsurface storage (ΔS), and other water budget components to snowmelt rate (smr) and timing (smt) using multiple linear regression and global sensitivity analysis (GSA). Regression results confirmed that R was governed by the competing influence of smr and smt. At both sites, ΔS was more sensitive to smt than smr while R was more sensitive to smr at P301 and to smt at NR1, reflecting energy limitation at NR1. GSA analyses mirrored the regressions for R, confirming that smt was more important at NR1 than P301. This work suggests that runoff increases from earlier snowmelt may counteract runoff losses due to slower snowmelt and that this process is mediated by PAWS and energy availability. These results suggest that R will be more susceptible to future changes in smr and smt at sites with greater PAWS and available energy.

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“…The cities discussed include Albuquerque, USA (Clary et al 1984), Boston, USA (Woodhouse et al 1991), Boulder, USA (Bilodeau et al 1987), Cairo, Egypt (Shata 1988), Christchurch New Zealand (Brown et al 1995), Dallas, USA (Allen & Flanigan 1986), Denver, USA (Costa & Bilodeau 1982), Hong Kong, China (McFeat-Smith et al 1989), Indianapolis, USA (West & Warder 1983), Johannesburg, South Africa (De Beer 1986), Kansas City, USA (Hasan et al 1988), Las Vegas, USA (Wyman et al 1993), Lima, Peru (Karakouzian et al 1997), Long Beach, USA (Randell et al 1983), Los Angeles, USA (Bilodeau et al 2007), Monteal, Canada (Boyer et al 1985), Port Elizabeth, South Africa (Carter 1987), Reno and Truckee Meadows, USA (Gates & Watters 1992), Rome, Italy (Thomas 1989), Salt Lake City, USA (Gwynn et al1990), Seattle, USA (Lund et al 1991). While the papers were published in the journal 'Environmental and Engineering Geoscience' and its predecessor, the Bulletin of the Association of Engineering Geologists, they were brought together on a CD-ROM published by the AEG (Anon.…”

Section: Multi-thematic Urban Geologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The 2010 Hans Cloos lecture

Culshaw

Price

2011

Bull Eng Geol Environ

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Urban geology began to develop in the 1950s, particularly in California in relation to landuse planning, and led to Robert Legget publishing his seminal book "Cities and geology" in 1973. Urban geology has now become an important part of engineering geology. Research and practice has seen the evolution from single theme spatial datasets to multi-theme and multi-dimensional outputs for a wide range of users. In parallel to the development of these new outputs to aid urban development, regeneration and conservation, has been the growing recognition that city authorities need access to extensive databases of geoinformation that are maintained in the long-term and renewed regularly. A further key advance has been the recognition that, in the urban environment, knowledge and understanding of the geology need to be integrated with those of other environmental topics (for example, biodiversity) and, increasingly, with the research of social scientists, economists and others.Despite these advances, it is suggested that the value of urban geology is not fully recognised by those charged with the management and improvement of the world's cities. This may be because engineering geologists have failed to adequately demonstrate the benefits of urban geological applications in terms of cost and environmental improvement, have not communicated these benefits well enough and have not clearly shown the longterm contribution of geo-information to urban sustainability. Within this context future actions to improve the situation are proposed.

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Geology of Boulder, Colorado, United States of America

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Chemical Loading into Surface Water along a Hydrological, Biogeochemical, and Land Use Gradient: A Holistic Watershed Approach

Chemical Loading into Surface Water along a Hydrological, Biogeochemical, and Land Use Gradient: A Holistic Watershed Approach

The Counteracting Effects of Snowmelt Rate and Timing on Runoff

The 2010 Hans Cloos lecture

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