Issue |
E3S Web Conf.
Volume 98, 2019
16th International Symposium on Water-Rock Interaction (WRI-16) and 13th International Symposium on Applied Isotope Geochemistry (1st IAGC International Conference)
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Article Number | 13002 | |
Number of page(s) | 5 | |
Section | Innovative Methods for Characterizing Metal and Nutrient Budgets in the Present and Past Terrestrial and Aquatic Environments. The Session Dedicated to Tom Bullen’s Memory | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/20199813002 | |
Published online | 07 June 2019 |
A 20-year record of water chemistry in an alpine setting, Mount Emmons, Colorado, USA
1
U.S. Geological Survey, MS 963 Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225 USA
2
U.S. Geological Survey, MS 973 Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225 USA
* Corresponding author: rwanty@usgs.gov
From 1997 to the present, the U.S. Geological Survey and other agencies have been collecting water samples for chemical analyses on Mount Emmons in central Colorado, USA. The geology of Mount Emmons is dominated by Upper Cretaceous to Paleogene sediments of marine to continental origin, with felsic intrusive rocks interrupting the sedimentary block. Extensive sulphide-rich alteration accompanied the intrusive events and forms an alteration halo in the sediments. Weathering of these sulphide minerals has led to numerous springs and seeps with a naturally low pH and high concentrations of metals, especially Fe and Zn. Superimposed on the natural geochemical signature are acid, metal-rich drainages from several mines and drill holes. Thus, streams on Mt. Emmons have a mix of natural and anthropogenic metal sources. Nearly 450 samples compose the database, with numerous sample locations replicated from the late 1990s to the present. Although there does not appear to be any temporal pattern in the data, consistent spatial variations are observed that allow us to characterize the natural and anthropogenic water sources.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2019
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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