Avalanche debris in the runout zone taken from a helicopter on the morning after the avalanche occurred Hazards March 24, 2003 Case Study: Avalanche – Silver Plume On March 23, 2003, a large avalanche occurred about one mile west of the Town of Silver Plume. The avalanche brought trees, rock, soil and snow to the valley floor, knocked down overhead utility lines, blocked the I-70 frontage road, damaged the town’s water treatment plant (WTP), and dammed Clear Creek. The dam was breached using explosives before the plant’s electric pump motors were flooded. With damage to the WTP’s chlorine contact tank and building, Silver Plum...
SP-43 A Guide to Swelling Soils for Colorado Homebuyers and Homeowners Hazards September 26, 2001 Swelling Soil Publication Wins Another National Award CGS Special Publication 43, SP-43 A Guide to Swelling Soils for Colorado Homebuyers and Homeowners, by Dave Noe, William “Pat” Rogers, and Candace Jochim, is the winner of the 2001 Edward B. Burwell, Jr. Award by the Geological…
A precarious rock above Manitou Springs started to move in 1995 after a period of wet weather. As an emergency measure Hazards June 20, 1995 Case Study: Rockfall – Manitou Springs [ED: This report from 1995 was written by Jon White, (Senior Engineering Geologist, Emeritus). It looks at a specific rockfall situation in the central Front Range town. ] Manitou Springs occupies a narrow valley where Fountain Creek emerges from the foothills northeast of Pikes Peak and west of Colorado Springs. The valley slopes are composed of interbedded resistant sandstone and conglomerates (i.e., gravelly sandstone), and weaker mudstones and shale. The outc...
Boulder oil field, 1915. Photo credit: C. L. McClure and the Denver Public Library. General, Geology March 29, 1907 Concerns about the new survey Regarding the Colorado Geological Survey (an article appearing in the Mining Reporter, March 1907): We note that one of our contemporaries, in recently commenting on the University bill creating a State Geological Survey of Colorado — the bill reported favorably on by the joint Senate and House mining committee —…