Description
The purpose of this map is to describe the geology, mineral and ground-water resource potential, and geologic hazards of this 7.5-minute quadrangle located immediately east of the Front Range uplift of Colorado. The geologic map plates were created using field maps, structural measurements, photographs, and field notes generated by the investigators. The GIS data included in this package was brought into GeMS Level 3 compliance as of November 2022. Includes 2 plates and GIS data in a single zip file. Digital ZIP download. OF-16-05D
From the map history:
The Longmont quadrangle is in the northern part of the Colorado Piedmont, which is a section of the Great Plains that is bounded on the west by the Front Range and on the east by the High Plains section of the Great Plains. It is distinguished primarily by the fact that it has been stripped of the Miocene fluvial rocks (Arikaree and Ogallala Formations) that cover most of the High Plains (Fenneman, 1931). Headward erosion of the South Platte and Arkansas Rivers and their tributaries caused most of the stripping. Like much of the Colorado Piedmont, the Longmont quadrangle is an area of low hills and plains underlain by Upper Cretaceous (100–66 Ma) sedimentary rocks. Most of these rocks consist of fine-grained sediment (clay, silt, and fine sand) that accumulated in a broad seaway (Western Interior Seaway). This seaway connected the areas of the present-day Arctic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico and extended from Minnesota and western Iowa on the east to central Utah on the west.
This mapping project was funded jointly by the U.S. Geological Survey through the STATEMAP component of the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, which is authorized by the National Geologic Mapping Act of 1997, and also by the CGS using the Colorado Department of Natural Resources Severance Tax Operational Funds. The CGS matching funds come from the severance paid on the production of natural gas, oil, coal, and metals. Geologic maps produced through the STATEMAP program are intended as multi-purpose maps useful for land-use planning, geotechnical engineering, geologic-hazard assessment, mineral-resource development, and ground-water exploration.
