Colorado is well-known for the violence of summer afternoon thunderstorms that can be extremely dangerous Geology July 22, 2020 Field Safety It's field mapping time, and much of our staff are out in several different areas of the state, doing field work. A majority of the field work is part of the STATEMAP program—preparing geologic maps of particular quadrangles for the US Geological Survey sponsors of that nation-wide program.
Looking up the avalanche chute along Henson Creek in Hinsdale County Hazards July 14, 2020 Colorado Scientific Society lecture online TITLE: Historic Avalanches in Hinsdale County, Colorado: Impacts to Lake City, old mining dams, and new evidence for the association of snow-and-rock avalanches as a means of forming rock glaciers Jon Lovekin, one of our engineering geologists will make a Zoom presentation on the unprecedented geohazard that unfolded during the…
The Arikaree River at Beecher Island in Yuma County Publications, Water June 7, 2020 New Colorado Groundwater Atlas released ON-010 Colorado Groundwater Atlas
OF-19-03 Geologic Map of the La Salle Quadrangle Geology, Publications April 24, 2020 OF-19-03 Geologic Map of the La Salle Quadrangle, Weld County, Colorado As we continue to expand geological mapping coverage of Colorado, we recently uploaded another of our STATEMAP 7.5-minute, 1:24,000 quadrangle mapping products to our online store: OF-19-03 Geologic Map of the La Salle Quadrangle, Weld County, Colorado. Our…
The end result of the current trenching on the Cheraw fault Geology, Hazards March 20, 2020 Trenching the Cheraw Fault in Southeastern Colorado One of the missions of the CGS is to better understand the various geological risks that face the residents of the state. While not seen as a seismically active region by most people, Colorado does have its share of geologic faults and historical earthquake activity. The state has over 90…
A uranium-rich zone in a sandstone of the Morrison Formation, Carnation Mine, San Miguel County, CO, January 2007. Photo credit: Chris Carroll (CGS). Energy, Minerals February 19, 2020 Colorado’s Uranium Deposits [Ed: this document, written in 2011 by Jim Burnell, Ph.D., P.G. (former Senior Minerals Geologist, Colorado Geological Survey), provides an excellent narrative on the sources of uranium deposits on the Western Slope of Colorado. However, it’s not the whole story—there is fascinating new science research implicating biological/organismic activity underground that…
Slice of a pallasite meteorite Geology February 10, 2020 DMNS Meteorite Collection The Meteorite Collection of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science publication
Mount Garfield from Interstate-70 General January 10, 2020 Welcome to the final CGS/RockTalk web iteration If you want to find out what's happening with the new CGS site, read here! Apologies for the incompleteness, it will improve on a daily basis, we promise!
General December 13, 2019 Quote: Robert Frost, geohazards expert Not only sands and gravels Were once more on their travels, But gulping muddy gallons Great boulders off their balance Bumped heads together dully And started down the gully. Whole capes caked off in slices. I felt my standpoint shaken…
Downtown Creede in 2010. Photo credit: Vince Matthews for the CGS. Geology, Minerals October 16, 2019 Creede: The Last Boom Town This RMPBS/Colorado Experience video explores the vibrant mining history of Creede, Colorado. In so many ways, the story of Colorado is the story of mining. The town of Creede in the south-central Rockies of Colorado stands as one of the last mining…
Uranium roll front hosted in Dakota Sandstone Energy, Minerals August 14, 2018 Geology of Uranium Deposits in Colorado Uranium is a widespread and ubiquitous element. It has a crustal abundance of 2.8 parts per million, slightly more than tin. Primary deposits of uranium tend to concentrate in granitic or alkalic volcanic rocks, hydrothermal veins, marine black shales, and early Precambrian age placer deposits. Secondary (or epigenetic) deposits of…
Soil arch in Qamf deposit, Loutzenhizer Arroyo. Piping cave/soil arch in Qamf deposit, Loutzenhizer Arroyo, Delta County, Colorado, April 2007. Photo credit: David Noe (CGS). Hazards July 12, 2018 Collapsible Soils By Jonathan White, Senior Engineering Geologist, Emeritus At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th Century, some of the first settlers of the plateau region of western Colorado along the Colorado River, and the Uncompahgre and North Fork of…