Sediment-Transport Characteristics and Effects of Sediment Transport on Benthic Invertebrates in the Fountain Creek Drainage Basin Upstream from Widefield, Southeastern Colorado, 1985-88

摘要

The Fountain Creek drainage basin in southeastern Colorado has been affected by extensive erosion for more than a century. Chapman (1933) used Fountain Creek as an example of a stream that has been affected by greater than normal erosion rates, which he believed began in the late 1870's as a result of agricultural development. Since 1950, much agricultural area in the basin has been replaced by urban development. Attention of local and state governments has been focused on the effects of changing land use on streams and rivers in the area. In 1985, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Colorado Springs Department of Utilities, began a study to determine the sediment-transport characteristics and the effects of sediment transport on benthic invertebrates in the Fountain Creek drainage basin upstream from Widefield. The study area, hereinafter referred to as the basin, is in eastern Teller County and northwestern El Paso County upstream from Widefield. The basin includes 495 square miles of the Fountain Creek drainage, which also includes the City of Colorado Springs.