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Leavenworth Creek, a tributary of South Clear Creek and Clear Creek near Georgetown, Colorado contains copper, lead, and zinc concentrations that are near to or exceed aquatic life standards. The creek drains the Argentine mining district where mining was active primarily in the early 1900s. In the summer of 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a metal-loading study using tracer dilution and spatially detailed synoptic sampling to assess the location and magnitude of copper, lead, manganese, and zinc sources to Leavenworth Creek. Sodium bromide solution was injected into the stream to facilitate calculation of stream discharge at all stream sites using the principles of tracer dilution. Consequently,...
Categories: Data;
Types: Downloadable,
Map Service,
OGC WFS Layer,
OGC WMS Layer,
Shapefile;
Tags: Clear Creek County,
Georgetown, Colorado,
Leavenworth Creek,
USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC),
contamination and pollution, All tags...
environment,
inlandWaters,
mineral resources,
tracer study,
water quality, Fewer tags
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Here the hydrogeochemical constraints of a tracer dilution study are combined with Fe and Zn isotopic measurements to pinpoint metal loading sources and attenuation mechanisms in an alpine watershed impacted by acid mine drainage. In the tested mountain catchment, δ56Fe and δ66Zn isotopic signatures of filtered stream water samples varied by 3.5‰ and 0.4‰, respectively. The inherent differences in the aqueous geochemistry of Fe and Zn provided complimentary isotopic information. For example, variations in δ56Fe were linked to redox and precipitation reactions occurring in the stream, while changes in δ66Zn were indicative of conservative mixing of different Zn sources. Fen environments contributed distinctively...
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The Abandoned Mine Lands Initiative combines expertise from each division of the U.S. Geological Survey. The watershed orientation of the initiative leads to a synthesis of information from many areas of study. Geologic and geochemical studies contribute information about mineral deposits, their role in premining conditions, and their potential for contributing metals to mine drainage. Hydrologic and geochemical studies indicate the transport and transformation of metals from the sources to the streams. Biological studies show the effects of metals on the aquatic organisms and habitats, and help to establish goals for improving the habitats. All of these studies are unified by the application of geographic information...
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Stream discharges and concentrations of dissolved and colloidal metals (Al, Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Pb, and Zn), SO4, and dissolved silica were measured to identify chemical transformations and determine mass transports through two mixing zones in the Animas River that receive the inflows from Cement and Mineral Creeks. The creeks were the dominant sources of Al, Cu, Fe, and Pb, whereas the upstream Animas River supplied about half of the Zn. With the exception of Fe, which was present in dissolved and colloidal forms, the metals were dissolved in the acidic, high-SO4 waters of Cement Creek (pH 3.8). Mixing of Cement Creek with the Animas River increased pH to near-neutral values and transformed Al and some additional...
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The solute-transport model OTIS and the reactive solute-transport model OTEQ were used to simulate geochemical conditions in Cement Creek, a tributary to the Animas River in southwestern Colorado. Results with OTIS indicated that removal of iron and zinc is required to simulate observed stream conditions on September 20, 1996. Two remediation scenarios that depicted remediation of lesser and greater amounts of zinc from Prospect and Ohio Gulches and the May Day Dump indicated that these actions would reduce zinc concentrations at the mouth of Cement Creek by 7 percent and 13 percent, respectively. OTIS simulations do not account for the effects of changing stream pH on metal concentrations. OTEQ is used to quantify...
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