Helicorder trace from Trinidad seismometer station, December 2019. Photo credit: CGS.

CGS Seismic Stations

2022-03-25 | CGS Admin

Early History

The Colorado School of Mines first acquired and installed a single three-component seismograph in the Cecil H. Green Observatory at Bergen Park, about 9 mi (14 km) southwest of Golden. That system was in continuous high-gain operation into the 1980s and was, during that time, the primary source of instrumental data on Colorado earthquakes.

The Cecil H. Green Geophysical Observatory at Bergen Park, Jefferson County, Colorado, 1967. Photo credit: Colorado School of Mines.

The Bergen Park station, at the time designated “GOL” by the World-wide Standardized Seismograph Network (WWSSN), was able to locate Colorado earthquakes to within 10 mi (15 km) of their epicenter.

During a twenty-day period in July and August 1976, the CGS hired Micro Geophysics Corporation to install and operate a high-gain seismic array in the Elkhead Mountains to monitor microearthquake activity in that area. See Bulletin 43 – Earthquake Potential in Colorado: A Preliminary Evaluation for a more detailed history of these early activities.

Current activities

The CGS first acquired a number of permanent seismic stations that were spun off from the USArray program in 2010. Since then, we have continued to expand and maintain the network of seismometer stations distributed around the state to monitor local, regional, and even global seismic activity. Listed here, each of our current stations has a link to its real-time helicorder trace of the vertical ground motion component. A single line on the helicorder graph traces the ground motion for a 10-minute interval.

All the seismometer clocks are synchronized with Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) NIST: UTC-6 hours is equivalent to Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) and UTC-7 hours is equivalent to Mountain Standard Time (MST).

Station SPVA – Colorado Mountain College Spring Valley, CO :: Helicorder

Seismic station SPVA was installed on the Colorado Mountain College - Spring Valley campus near Glenwood Springs, Colorado, in the summer of 2022. Photo credit: Kyren Bogolub for the CGS.

SPVA was installed on the Colorado Mountain College – Spring Valley campus in the summer of 2022. This location is very important for statewide seismic coverage as there was a huge gap in stations within west-central Colorado. This station will improve detection and location of earthquakes near Crested Butte, Aspen, and Glenwood Springs. Photo credit: Kyren Bogolub for the CGS.

Station MCSU :: CSU Mountain Campus, CO :: Helicorder

Seismic Station MCSU was installed in 2019 on the CSU Mountain Campus in the north-central Colorado Rocky Mountains. Photo credit: Kyren Bogolub for the CGS.

This installation, finished in August of 2019, is a collaboration between CGS and Colorado State University (CSU) and was installed at the CSU Mountain Campus near Rocky Mountain National Park. The CGS has stations in some very beautiful locations but this is one of our favorites. Photo credit: Kyren Bogolub for the CGS.

Station T25A :: Trinidad, CO :: Helicorder

Located near Trinidad, Colorado, this seismic station is used to monitor earthquakes in the Raton Basin along the Colorado/New Mexico border. Photo credit: Kyren Bogolub for the CGS.

Located near Trinidad, Colorado, this station is used to monitor earthquakes in the Raton Basin along the Colorado/New Mexico border. This is one of the most seismically active areas of the state with a combination of both tectonic and induced earthquakes. Photo credit: Kyren Bogolub for the CGS.

Station CHIL :: CSU-CHILL Weather Radar Station, CO :: Helicorder

This seismic station is located near Greeley, Colorado on land owned by CSU. Photo credit: Kyren Bogolub for the CGS.

Installed in February of 2020 near Greeley, Colorado, CHIL re-occupies the location of a temporary station that was part of a multi-year induced seismicity study. The land belongs to CSU and is home to a giant Doppler radome. Photo credit: Kyren Bogolub for the CGS.

Station HAYD :: Hayden, CO :: Helicorder

Installed in 2018 near Hayden, Colorado, this station is well-situated to monitor ground movement in northwest region of the state. Photo credit: Martin Palkovic for the CGS.

Station HAYD was installed in August of 2018 near Hayden, Colorado, west of Steamboat Springs. It’s on a beautiful site well-situated to help locate earthquakes in that area as well as around Glenwood Springs. Photo credit: Martin Palkovic for the CGS.

Station Q24A :: Divide, CO :: Helicorder

Seismic station Q24A is located near Divide, Colorado, just west of Colorado Springs. Photo credit: Kyren Bogolub for the CGS.

Near Divide, Colorado, just west of Colorado Springs, this station is a favorite because it’s very quiet, meaning it’s good at picking up attenuated signals from far-away earthquakes. It also is remarkably reliable, with very few installation and equipment issues. Photo credit: Kyren Bogolub for the CGS.

Station S22A :: Creede, CO :: Helicorder

Seismic station S22A is located near Creede, Colorado. Photo credit: Kyren Bogolub for the CGS.

S22A is located near Creede, Colorado. It was recently very useful for pin-pointing small earthquake swarms near the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Photo credit: Kyren Bogolub for the CGS.

Station LAMA :: Lamar, CO :: Helicorder

Located near Lamar, Colorado, this seismic station is used to monitor earthquakes on the Cheraw Fault. Photo credit: Kyren Bogolub for the CGS.

Installed in November of 2018, this station is located in southeast Colorado near Lamar, hence the designation “LAMA”! Primarily installed as a part of wider CGS research on the Cheraw Fault, it is used to monitor any potential activity or motion on that tectonic feature. Photo credit: Kyren Bogolub for the CGS.

Station N23A :: near Red Feather Lakes, CO :: Helicorder

This station is located near Red Feather Lakes in north-central Colorado, close to the border with Wyoming. Photo credit: Kyren Bogolub for the CGS.

N23A—near Red Feather Lakes in north-central Colorado, close to the border with Wyoming— was installed in 2008 but it lost its internet service and real-time archiving between 2018 to 2021. We were incredibly happy to bring the site back online with a new satellite internet system. This station is in a very remote location so there is not much cultural noise in the data. It does get very windy, though, which sometimes may show up as noise and which also sometimes affects the satellite dish connection. Photo credit: Kyren Bogolub for the CGS.

Citations, Categories & Tags

Citations

Colorado Earthquake Hazards Mitigation Council. “MI-95 Colorado Earthquake Hazards.” Colorado Geological Survey, Department of Natural Resources, 2013. https://coloradogeologicalsurvey.org/publications/colorado-earthquake-hazards.

Colorado Geological Survey. “RockTalk V05N2, April 2002 - Earthquakes in Colorado.” RockTalk, April 2002.

Colorado Geological Survey and CEHMC. “OF-20-08 Earthquakes in Colorado.” Colorado Geological Survey, July 4, 2020. https://coloradogeologicalsurvey.org/publications/earthquakes-in-colorado.

Kirkham, R. M., W. P. Rogers, L. Powell, M. L. Morgan, V. Matthews, and G. R. Pattyn. “Bulletin 52B - Earthquake and Late Cenezoic Fault and Fold Map Server.” Earthquake. Bulletin. Denver, CO: Colorado Geological Survey, Division of Minerals and Geology, Department of Natural Resources, 2004. https://cgsarcimage.mines.edu/ON-001.

Kirkham, Robert M. “OF-78-03 Earthquake Potential in Colorado: A Preliminary Evaluation.” Earthquakes. Open File Reports. Denver, CO: Colorado Geological Survey, Department of Natural Resources, 1978. https://coloradogeologicalsurvey.org/publications/earthquake-potential-colorado-1978.

Kirkham, Robert M., and William P. Rogers. “Bulletin 43 - Earthquake Potential in Colorado: A Preliminary Evaluation.” Earthquake. Bulletin. Denver, CO: Colorado Geological Survey, Department of Natural Resources, 1981. https://coloradogeologicalsurvey.org/publications/earthquake-potential-colorado.

———. “Bulletin 52 - Colorado Earthquake Information, 1867-1996.” Earthquake. Bulletin. Denver, CO: Colorado Geological Survey, Division of Minerals and Geology, Department of Natural Resources, 2000. https://coloradogeologicalsurvey.org/publications/colorado-earthquake-information-1867-1996.

Morgan, Matthew L., and F. Scot Fitzgerald. “ON-001 Colorado Earthquake and Fault Map.” Earthquake, (variable) online map. Golden, CO: Colorado Geological Survey, July 1, 2019. https://cgsarcimage.mines.edu/ON-19-01/.

Rogers, William P., and Robert M. Kirkham. “SP-28 Contributions to Colorado Seismicity and Tectonics - A 1986 Update.” Seismicity and Tectonics. Special Publication. Denver, CO: Colorado Geological Survey, Department of Natural Resources, 1986. https://coloradogeologicalsurvey.org/publications/colorado-seismicity-tectonics-1986.

“SP-19 Colorado Tectonics, Seismicity and Earthquake Hazards: Proceedings and Field Trip Guide of a Symposium Held in Denver, Colorado, June 4-6, 1981.” Tectonics, Seismicity, and Earthquake. Special Publication. Denver, CO: Colorado Geological Survey, Department of Natural Resources, 1981. https://coloradogeologicalsurvey.org/publications/colorado-tectonics-seismicity-earthquake-hazards.