Departments & Interdisciplinary Programs: Recent submissions
Now showing items 21-40 of 374
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Policy guidelines for accelerating the energy transition in Sub-Saharan Africa: lessons from the mobile telecoms sectorSub-Saharan Africa faces immense challenges in its bid to attract capital to develop its energy resources and grow its economy. Relative to the pace of market penetration of cell phone services in the recent past, the growth in the share of the population with access to electricity has been rather dismal. The comparisons between both sectors are not new and have been made repeatedly over the years. This commentary recognizes that there are substantial differences between both sectors that make direct comparisons and a transfer of policy lessons difficult. It then identifies some key enablers of cellular telephony growth in Africa that can be applied to the electric power sector and refashions them into broad policy guidelines for boosting the pace of the energy transition on the subcontinent.
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U-Pb geochronology of monazite from a carbonatite dike and hydrothermally altered pegmatite dike in the Wet Mountains, ColoradoU-Pb Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) isotopic data were collected for igneous and hydrothermal monazite from a carbonatite dike and hydrothermally altered pegmatite dike, respectively, to determine the age of carbonatite emplacement and rare earth element (REE) mineralization in the Wet Mountains, Colorado. Fifty analyses from three monazite grains from each sample yielded reliable 206Pb/238U data. Sample locations were recording using a handheld Global Positioning System.
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Impact analysis and development patterns for the oil shale region Mesa, Garfield and Rio Blanco counties, ColoradoThis report is part of the Colorado Oil Shale Environmental Program, a major complex of studies and activities begun in 1971 to provide information and guidance for oil shale development in Colorado. This final report "Impact Analysis and Development Patterns Related to an Oil Shale Industry: Regional Development and Land Use Study" was prepared for the Colorado West Area Council of Governments, the Oil Shale Regional Planning Commission, and the Regional Development and Land Use Planning Steering and Monitoring Committee by THK Associates, in cooperation with the Denver Research Institute and Bickert, Browne and Coddington. The major objective of this study of community impacts was to provide decision-makers the necessary information on which to base planning in order to mitigate the potentially great impacts of an oil shale industry. As study of impacts, it deals more with the hardware requirements of communities—schools, housing, sewers, land use, water—than the people impacts. It provides valuable regional timetables and quantification of the necessary growth hardware. As such, this report should be invaluable to the region in planning.
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Regional oil shale study environmental inventory, analysis, and impact study, Piceance Creek Basin, Rio Blanco and Garfield counties, ColoradoThe major objective of this study of community impacts was to provide decision-makers the necessary information on which to base planning in order to mitigate the potentially great impacts of an oil shale industry. As study of impacts, it deals more with the hardware requirements of communities—schools, housing, sewers, land use, water—than the people impacts. It provides valuable regional timetables and quantification of the necessary growth hardware. As such, this report should be invaluable to the region in planning. The objectives of the Environmental Inventory Analysis and Impact Study were (1) to examine a number of the more sensitive components of the ecosystem and to establish baselines from which changes in the environment due to oil shale development could be evaluated and (2) to evaluate the effects of a series of alternatives and the long-range consequences for all interrelated aspects of physical and human environments.
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Colorado oil shale: the current statusThis overview of the status of oil shale was prepared by the State of Colorado, at the request of Mr. Paul Petzrick, Director of Shale Resource Applications for the U.S. Department of Energy. The Executive Director's Office, Department of Natural Resources, accomplished this task with the help of the Colorado Energy Research Institute. (Note that the Colorado Geological Society assisted along with other Federal and State agencies.) The material in this briefing book provides a general background to oil shale and the potential impacts of its development. It is not meant as a technical discussion of all the issues and problems associated with the development of this energy resource. Rather, it is intended as an overview for those people not intimately knowledgeable concerning Colorado and its oil shale resource.
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Tax lead time study for the oil shale region: fiscal alternatives for rapidly growing communities in ColoradoBased on currently used revenue sources, public revenues are likely to be insufficient in the oil shale region for the first five to eight years after development is initiated. The basic problem is timing and distribution of tax revenues to support new development when and where needed. This problem primarily affects cities, towns, and school districts. The basic purpose of this study is to review alternative revenue sources for local governments and potential techniques for handling revenue timing and distribution problems created by rapid population growth. The discussion of the oil shale industry and what is likely to happen or not to happen is under constant speculation and revision. Information and projections contained in this report are furnished to provide a context for problem solving by local governments in the oil shale region.
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Surface rehabilitation of land disturbances resulting from oil shale development: final report, phase IThe Phase I report is organized into the following chapters: Chapter 1. Geomorphology of Piceance Creek Basin; Chapter 2. The natural vegetation in the landscape pf the Colorado oil shale region; Chapter 3. Ecosystems and their natural and artificial rehabilitation; Chapter 4. Evaluation of mining techniques; Chapter 5. Physical and chemical characteristics of overburden, spoils, and soils; Chapter 6. Characteristics of spent shale which influence water quality, sedimentation and plant growth medium; and Chapter 7. Water requirement for stabilizing and vegetating spent shale in the Piceance Basin. The Phase II report is organized into Phase II-A Vegetative stabilization of spent oil shales and Phase II-B Revegetation of disturbed surface soils in various vegetation ecosystems in the Piceance Basin.
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Report on economics of environmental protection for a federal oil shale leasing programThis report was prepared at the request of Thomas W. Ten Eyck, Director of Natural Resources of the State of Colorado, by a subcommittee of Governor John A. Love's Oil Shale Advisory Committee, known as the "Special Committee on Economics of Environmental Protection" (SCEEP). It examines the impact of commercial oil shale operations on the natural resources of the Piceance Creek Basin and the related socio-economic consequences to determine whether or not a federal leasing program can be initiated with adequate environmental safeguards.
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Oil shale and the future of a region: Garfield, Mesa and Rio Blanco counties, Colorado; a summary reportIn 1973, the functions of the Oil Shale Regional Planning Commission were incorporated into the newly formed Colorado West Area Council of Governments. The governing board of the Council is made up of a member of the Board of County Commissioners from each of the four counties (Garfield, Mesa, Rio Blanco, and Moffat) in Planning and Management Region 11, and an elected representative from each county representing the municipalities. The Council continued the investigations begun by the Oil Shale Regional Planning Commission. The findings and recommendations of the Regional Development and Land Use Study are summarized in this report.
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Developing hydrogen and carbon capture and storage projects in the state of ColoradoOver the past two years, both the hydrogen and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) industries have gained momentum in the US. Project development in these industries has been rapidly accelerating with the growing financial incentives from policymakers for the commercial deployment of these projects. The signing of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, in November of 2021 marked the US Department of Energy's largest single investment in carbon management, along with significant investments funding clean hydrogen development.
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Climate change: toward a more resilient AfricaThe impacts of the invasion of Ukraine on agricultural exports and fertilizers, the food price hikes, the inflationary pressures, the unsustainable debt levels for many countries, and the possible global economic recession are severely impacting African economies and communities. In addition, the climate is changing, and Africa needs to adapt. It must adapt to rising temperatures, more extreme storms, and floods, rising sea levels, more intense heatwaves, and longer and more severe droughts. Yet though the risks are great, so also are the opportunities that successful adaptation can bring.
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A new paradigm for managing mineral trade routes in AfricaThe African Copper belt is a major supplier of key minerals such as copper, nickel, and cobalt to the world economy. Extracting and transporting these minerals to market will be essential to the success of the energy transition as demand for solar and wind energy, and battery metals soar exponentially over the next three decades. In contrast, the dismal state of road infrastructure for transporting the minerals from mine to port creates a major impediment to the commercial competitiveness of miners in the region and threatens economic rents accruable to host countries and communities. This commentary describes a new paradigm that could radically transform the design of solutions to ease logistics problems in the region.
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Collapsible soils in ColoradoCollapsible Soils in Colorado describes the geologic setting, the geomorphic and soil conditions, locations of potential susceptibility, and engineering properties of collapsible soils in Colorado. This bulletin is the result of a comprehensive and multi-year effort to understand collapsing soil behavior and the geologic and geomorphic conditions where they can form. In addition, this report contains a 1:1,000,000-scale map of Colorado that shows locations of soil collapse compiled from soil test data and damage incidents, climatic exclusions zones, and areas of the state where collapse-prone soil may exist. Collapsible soils are a widespread geologic hazard in the state, common in almost all semi-arid non-mountainous areas. The CGS program addressing this particular geohazard has increased public and professional awareness of collapsible soils. At the same time, through robust evaluation and research, it has improved the existing geological and geotechnical professional standard-of-practice related to the hazard. Note: The Association of American State Geologists announced that their annual John C. Frye Memorial Award for 2009 is granted to the CGS and the staff members who authored EG-14.
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Artificial recharge of ground water in Colorado: a statewide assessmentGround water aquifers can be used as reservoirs to provide increased water storage capacity in Colorado through an intentional, engineered water recharge process to aquifers called "artificial recharge." CGS has completed an assessment of the current and potential use of artificial recharge in our state. The report widely addresses several pertinent aspects of artificial recharge including the reasons for using the technique; the current methods or technologies used; where artificial recharge is being done in Colorado, the US and internationally; types of aquifers that can be used for artificial recharge and which Colorado aquifers are best suited for water storage. An inventory of artificial recharge projects within Colorado identified 19 active operations as of 2004. A weighted ranking system was established to evaluate the key physical properties of the state's sixteen highest-potential unconsolidated aquifers and 29 highest-potential consolidated aquifers. The evaluation of the available storage capacity in Colorado's highest-potential aquifers was guided by the desire to find opportunities to develop large-scale artificial recharge projects, i.e., defined as having storage capacity in excess of 100,000 acre-feet. Thirteen of the sixteen primary unconsolidated rock aquifers have sufficient storage capacity to accommodate a large-scale project. In aggregate, the lower South Platte River alluvium and the San Luis Valley alluvium have the capacity to store in excess of one million acre-feet. All but two of the 26 primary consolidated rock aquifers also have sufficient storage capacity. Because of their large areal extent and head freeboard, the majority of these aquifers can store millions of acre-feet of water.
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Energy resources of the Denver and Cheyenne basins, Colorado: resource characteristics, development potential, and environmental problemsThis report presents the results of a 32-month study of the geologic characteristics, development potential, and environmental problems related to the exploration for and development of energy resources in the Denver and Cheyenne Basins, Colorado. Coal, lignite, uranium, oil, and gas energy resources are evaluated for their development potentials. The report is organized into the following sections: Introduction, General geology; Coal resources; Uranium resources; Oil and gas resources; and Land use conflicts related to energy resource development. The investigation was conducted by the CGS and cooperatively funded by a U.S. Geological Survey Grant on the Study of Environmental Impact of Energy Resource Development in the Denver Basin, Colorado.
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Promises and problems of a "new" uranium mining method: in situ solution miningThis study was a cooperative investigation conducted by the CGS and funded by a U.S. Geological Survey Grant on the Study of Environmental Impact of Energy Resource Development in the Denver Basin, Colorado. It was presented at the 5th Governor's Conference on Environmental Geology held in Grand Junction from October 9-12, 1979. As technology advances and the economy changes, new mining methods are researched and developed by industry and the Federal government. Planners may encounter situations where industry wishes to utilize a new, unfamiliar mining technique to recover a mineral resource. Many of these methods offer considerable socio-economic and environmental advantages over conventional mining and milling techniques. Other of these methods, however, may result in significant impacts that concern planners. This paper describes only one of these methods, in situ solution mining, which is a relatively old technique that recently has been successfully used to extract uranium. This report presents the mining and processing techniques, wastes and effluents, waste disposal and control, monitoring programs, environmental effects of accidents, and restoration.
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Geologic hazards in the Big Thompson Canyon area, Larimer County, ColoradoThe intense rain and subsequent flooding on the Lower Big Thompson River basin region between 31 July and 01 August 1976 activated or accelerated several geologic processes. The main Big Thompson Canyon area was directly affected, along with its tributaries and drainages. This mapping project delineates the location of geohazards resulting from the storm as well as areas where similar adverse events could occur sometime in the foreseeable future. Plates 1 through 4 include: 1) Index with introductory text; 2-3) West and East map halves; 4) geomorphic features formed by flooding.
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Coal mine subsidence and land use in the Boulder-Weld coalfield: Boulder and Weld counties, ColoradoThe problem of subsidence resulting from the undermining of the surface has received a great deal of study over the past 100 years. Much of this work has been done in Europe where industry, population density, and coal mining tended to grow and develop in the same areas. Damage to surface structures in highly urbanized areas such as the Ruhr and the English Midlands led to intensive investigations as to how to predict where and when subsidence would occur and how to prevent or minimize such subsidence. Until recently most of the significant research on surface subsidence was done abroad and has been published in journals which are not easily obtainable or are in a language other than English. In Europe, most underground coal mining is done by methods different than those commonly used in the Boulder-Weld coalfield. For this reason, one must be cautious in applying European principles of subsidence prediction to the Boulder-Weld coalfield where the layout and condition of the mines are quite different. In the last decade, land development has encroached on the undermined area of the Boulder-Weld coalfield, and the importance of subsidence has been recognized. This study is directed primarily toward the problems of land-use in those undermined areas where subsidence has occurred in the past and may occur in the future. Absolute predictability of the amount and area of subsidence in the Boulder-Weld coalfield is not possible with records now available. In Europe land-use plans have evolved to take subsidence into account, and detailed records have been maintained over long periods of time. It is unfortunate that the level of record-keeping in the Boulder-Weld coalfield has not been geared to land-use needs, because the present lack of data severely limits the accuracy of subsidence prediction. Within the limitations imposed by the adequacy of mine data, this study is intended to bring together a body of information that will be useful to planners and geologists involved in bringing the land to its optimum use.
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Roaring Fork and Crystal valleys: an environmental and engineering geology study, Eagle, Garfield, Gunnison, and Pitkin counties, ColoradoAn environmental and engineering geology study has been made of the Roaring Fork and Crystal Valleys. The 300 square mile study area encompasses parts of four counties (Eagle, Garfield, Gunnison, and Pitkin) in west central Colorado. The purpose of the study was to compile sufficient information to prepare comprehensive maps (Plates 1-3) and text concerning the environmental and engineering geologic characteristics of the Roaring Fork Valley, from Glenwood Springs to Aspen, and the Crystal Valley, from Carbondale to the vicinity of Marble, Colorado. Report sections include: Introduction; Environmental and Engineering Geology (with detailed discussion of the surficial and bedrock geology); Groundwater and geologic resources; and Conclusions. Also included are four appendices.
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Environmental and engineering geology of the Windsor study area, Larimer and Weld counties, ColoradoEngineering and environmental geology of the Windsor study area, covering eight 7.5-minute quadrangles in Larimer and Weld counties. Included are the cities of Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, and Windsor. Model geologic baseline-data study for a rapidly urbanizing area. 11 plates (1:48,000 and 1:96,000). Information included on plates: a) Bedrock geology; b) shallow surficial materials; c) slope analysis; d) drainage basins and areas of past flooding; e) existing land use; f) sand and gravel resources; g) groundwater availability; h) water quality and sources of potential pollution; i) bedrock surface topography of valley-fill areas; j) solid waste disposal suitability; k) energy and mineral resources (excluding sand and gravel).