Suspended Sediment and Sediment-Source Areas in the Fountain Creek Drainage Basin Upstream from Widefield, Southeastern Colorado

摘要

Suspended-sediment samples were collected from a network of 24 synoptic sampling sites to evaluate suspended-sediment yields and sediment-source areas in the Fountain Creek drainage basin upstream from Widefield, Colorado. Suspended-sediment yields ranged from 0.004 to 278 tons per square mile per day. The 24 sites represented urban and rural land use. The median suspended-sediment yield from urban drainage basins was 7.7 tons per square mile per day and the median suspended-sediment yield from rural drainage basins was 0.46 ton per square mile per day. Sediment-transport equations were derived for total suspended-sediment discharge and suspended-sand discharge at seven periodic-sampling sites. Annual suspended-sediment loads were computed for the 1985 water year using the streamflow-duration, sediment-transport equation method.