Manitou Springs Research Articles

Evaluation of rockfall trends at a sedimentary rock cut near Manitou Springs, Colorado, using daily photogrammetric monitoring

Evaluation of rockfall trends at a sedimentary rock cut near Manitou Springs, Colorado, using daily photogrammetric monitoring

Environmental drivers of cyclicity recorded in lower Permian eolian strata, Manitou Springs, Colorado, western United States

Ancient eolian deposits are effective records of environmental conditions and commonly exhibit cyclicity. Accordingly, these deposits can reveal information that allows assessment of the earth system drivers controlling that cyclicity. Here, we assess those drivers in the lower Permian Ingleside Formation exposed near Manitou Springs, Colorado. The unit is characterized by two major eolian depositional intervals, exposed as topographic ridges, and punctuated by alluvial facies, exposed as a valley between the two ridges. Eolian facies are moderately sorted, sub-rounded, fine-grained, sub-arkosic sandstone. Sets of cross strata are up to 10.5 meters thick, and foresets exhibit internal laminae. Eolian cosets are regularly truncated by parallel to sub-parallel bounding zones composed of laterally continuous massive to planar laminated muddy sandstone. Rhizoliths are locally present in these zones. Thin section petrography demonstrates that clay and carbonate cement are abundant in these zones when compared to eolian cosets. Bounding zone thicknesses range from surfaces (with no thickness) to 1.7 m. The bounding zones cut across all other surfaces within the eolian stratigraphy, and are inferred to be super bounding zones (SBZ). Based on similar relationships to interior erg deposits of the coeval Cedar Mesa Sandstone and in the context of late Paleozoic glacioeustasy, we propose the following model for creation of the SBZ. Dry eolian dunes mobilized and climbed during regression when abundant sand was available. During transgression, the encroaching shoreline trapped sediment resulting in deflation due to the loss of sediment flux. Relative sea level rise also raised the water table and when deflation reached a depth near the capillary fringe of the water table, the deflationary surface stabilized resulting in the SBZ.Three levels of cyclicity are observed in the Ingleside Formation that are inferred to reflect changes in local and global paleoenvironmental conditions. The first is the long-term gradation from the predominantly fluvial upper part of the Fountain Formation to the predominantly eolian Ingleside Formation. This trend is inferred to be the result of long-term aridification of the Pangaean interior. The second scale of cyclicity is denoted by punctuation of the two eolian ridges by alluvial facies comprising the intervening valley. We propose that this dry—wet—dry environmental change is driven by relative global ice volume during the early Permian. Higher volumes of global ice, occurring as Gondwanan ice sheets, appear to correlate to the eolian intervals, whereas, the alluvial interval may be coeval with feckless or complete loss of Gondwanan ice sheets. The third scale of cyclicity is indicated by the SBZ-coset couplets and is inferred to be the result of glacioeustatic variations in sea level resulting from the waxing and waning of relatively large Gondwanan ice sheets.

Proposing an Entirely Pennsylvanian Age for the Fountain Formation through New Lithostratigraphic Correlation along the Front Range

The Fountain Formation is an important unit recording ancestral Rocky Mountain tectonics and paleogeography along the Front Range urban corridor. The age of the formation constrains timing of uplift of the ancestral Front Range and Ute Pass uplift and subsidence of adjacent basins. Yet, age models for the Fountain Formation are crude and varied. Specifically, available biostratigraphic data suggest an entirely Pennsylvanian age for the Fountain Formation, however historical lithostratigraphic assignment of the Lyons Formation atop the Fountain Formation south of Lyons, Colorado allows for a significant early Permian component of deposition. New stratigraphic and sedimentologic data recorded from the Ingleside Formation and the Lower Permian unit at Manitou Springs, Colorado demonstrate: 1) a conformable contact between the upper Fountain Formation and Lower Permian strata at both localities and 2) close grain size and framework mineralogy comparisons at both localities. These data suggest that the Lower Permian at Manitou Springs, Colorado best correlates to the Ingleside Formation, rather than the previously mapped Lyons Formation. This newly proposed lithostratigraphic correlation aligns with the available biostratigraphic data that the Fountain Formation is a Pennsylvanian unit with little to no Lower Permian component. An entirely Pennsylvanian age for the Fountain Formation indicates that active uplift of the ancestral Front Range and delivery of first-cycle arkose had ceased by the latest Pennsylvanian.

Bioaccumulation of Selenium by the Bryophyte Hygrohypnum ochraceum in the Fountain Creek Watershed, Colorado

Aquatic bryophytes, Hygrohypnum ochraceum, were deployed "in situ" at 14 sites in the Fountain Creek Watershed, spring and fall, 2007 to study selenium (Se) accumulation. Dissolved, total, and pore (sediment derived) water samples were collected and water quality parameters determined while plants were exposed to the water for 10 days. There was a trend showing plant tissue-Se uptake with distance downstream and we found a strong correlation between Se in the water with total hardness in both seasons. There was a modest association between Se-uptake in plants with hardness in the spring of 2007 but not the fall. Plants bioconcentrated Se from the water by a factor of 5.8 × 10(3) at Green Mountain Falls and 1.5 × 10(4) at Manitou Springs in the fall of 2007. Both are examples of the bioconcentration abilities of the plants, primarily in the upper reaches of the watershed where bioconcentration factors were highest. However, the mean minima and maxima of Se in the plants in each of the three watershed segments appeared similar during both seasons. We found direct relationships between the pore and dissolved Se in water in the spring (R (2) = 0.84) and fall (R (2) = 0.95) and dissolved Se and total hardness in the spring and fall (R (2) = 0.92). The data indicate that H. ochraceum was a suitable indicator of Se bioavailability and Se uptake in other trophic levels in the Fountain Creek Watershed based on a subsequent study of Se accumulation in fish tissues at all 14 sites.

Archaeology as Built for the Tourists: The Anasazi Cliff Dwellings of Manitou Springs, Colorado

Anasazi-era archaeology sites have been extremely popular tourist attractions since the 1890s, but one site—the cliff dwellings in Manitou Springs, Colorado—stands apart because it is a fake. The site was constructed at the turn of the twentieth century as a more accessible tourist alternative to Four Corners-area Anasazi ruins. The story of its construction and how it continues to cater to its visitors offers insight into the ways in which archaeology sites function as tourist destination. The Manitou Cliff Dwellings forces scholars to consider questions of authenticity, authority, and how people engage the past.

Late Paleozoic tectonics and paleogeography of the ancestral Front Range: Structural, stratigraphic, and sedimentologic evidence from the Fountain Formation (Manitou Springs, Colorado)

Sedimentologic, stratigraphic, and structural data indicate that the Fountain Formation at Manitou Springs consists of three tectonostratigraphic units, herein termed the lower, middle, and upper Fountain Formation. Both the lower and middle Fountain Formation were deposited in a fan-delta setting adjacent to the active ancestral Ute Pass fault. The lower is thin and predominantly characterized by depositional stability as recorded by abundant well-developed, deeply rooted paleosols. The middle Fountain Formation reflects fan progradation and highland rejuvenation as a result of increased activity of the ancestral Ute Pass fault. This activity was likely the result of a basinward splay of the ancestral Ute Pass fault with reverse dip-slip motion as indicated by (1) exhumation of the lower Paleozoic Sawatch Formation and (2) fault-parallel folding. The upper Fountain Formation reflects deposition in a NW-SE–trending, braided-river system and appears to postdate movement on the ancestral Ute Pass fault. Lithostratigraphic correlation allows for a Latest Pennsylvanian–Early Permian age for the upper Fountain Formation, thus constraining cessation of the ancestral Ute Pass fault to Middle to Late Pennsylvanian time. The Fountain Formation was deposited within a NW-SE–oriented structural trough (i.e., Woodland Park trough) that separated the ancestral Front Range into a northern block (i.e., ancestral Front Range block) and a southern block (i.e., Ute Pass uplift). The Woodland Park trough was bounded on its southern margin by the ancestral Ute Pass fault, which was active throughout deposition of the lower two Fountain tectonostratigraphic units, during which time sediments were shed northward across the ancestral Ute Pass fault into a marine environment. By the time of deposition of the upper Fountain Formation, movement on the ancestral Ute Pass fault had ceased or dramatically decreased. During this time, the Fountain Formation records predominantly axially oriented, braided-stream deposition. Comparison of the timing and kinematic history of the ancestral Ute Pass fault with other documented reverse and strike-slip faults of the ancestral Rocky Mountains suggests that: (1) cessation of faulting within the ancestral Rocky Mountains displays a slight east-to-west younging, but the crude age resolution of adjacent basin fill also allows for the possibility of relatively synchronous cessation of faulting, and (2) kinematics of all faults examined are consistent with a NE‑SW–oriented maximum horizontal compressional stress field. These inferences contrast with the proposed Laurentian–Gondwanan diachronous closure models for the ancestral Rocky Mountains, which require rotation of the maximum horizontal stress orientation through time and pronounced east-to-west younging of faulting. Rotation of the horizontal stress field may be recorded in multistage, kinematic histories of faults, but multiple faults require study to assess this model. Age constraints on post-tectonic units of the ancestral Rocky Mountains, such as the upper Fountain Formation tectonostratigraphic unit defined herein, are poor and further refinement would greatly aid understanding of the kinematic timing and tectonic driving force of these ancient mountains.

Polygonal cracking in coarse clastics records cold temperatures in the equatorial Fountain Formation (Pennsylvanian–Permian, Colorado)

Sand- and granule-filled polygonal fractures are present on bedding surfaces within the equatorial Fountain Formation (Pennsylvanian–Permian, Colorado). The surfaces are areally extensive (> 120,000 m 2) and occur within inferred braided braided-river deposits. The fractures penetrate downward into coarse sandstone to granule conglomerate and range from 3–55 cm to 13–> 220 cm in width and depth, respectively. At one locality (Manitou Springs), both fracture fill and polygon interiors display a grain-supported texture and contain < 14% clay; additionally, the fracture fill is microbrecciated. At the other locality (Loveland), both the fracture fill and polygon interiors display a grain-supported texture and contain < 3.5% clay. The polygonal fractures formed as frozen ground experienced thermal contraction induced by repeated cooling events. Owing to the equatorial location of the Fountain Formation, we suggest that diurnal, rather than seasonal, temperature variations provided the repeated cooling mechanism. Alternative causes of polygonal fracturing, such as desiccation of clay-rich sediments or thermal contraction of evaporite minerals, are untenable because the hosting strata contain minimal clay (< 14%) and are framework supported, indicating that there was insufficient space for either clay or evaporite minerals. A thermal contraction origin for these features implies that the equatorial Fountain Formation experienced at least two episodes of remarkably cold conditions. Furthermore, using maximum reasonable stream gradients (~ 0.02) between the polygonally fractured surfaces and the shoreline (gauged from shallow-marine deposits of the Denver basin), the fractures formed at relatively low elevation (≤ 1800 m).

Timing of Passage Development and Sedimentation at Cave of the Winds, Manitou Springs, Colorado, USA

In this study the age of the onset of passage development and the timing of sedimentation in the cave passages at the Cave of the Winds, Manitou Springs, Colorado are determined. The amino acid rations of land snails located in nearby radiometrically dated alluvial terraces and an alluvial terrace geomorphically associated with Cave of the Winds were used to construct an aminostratigraphic record. This indicated that the terrace was ~ 2 Ma. The age of the terrace and its geomorphic relation to the Cave of the Winds was use to calibrate the magnetostratigraphy of a 10 meter thick cave sediment sequence. The results indicated that cave dissolution started ~4.5 Ma and cave clastic sedimentation stopped ~1.5 Ma.

The National Commission for the Advancement of Educational Leadership Preparation: An Introduction

The fall calendar of 2001 was awash in meetings focused on the future of educational leadership. In August of 2001, the Wallace-Reader’s Digest Funds sponsored a conference on educational leadership at Manitou Springs, Colorado. In September, the National Commission for the Advancement of Educational Leadership Preparation (NCAELP) planned to hold a meeting on the future of educational leadership preparation, and in October, the Danforth Foundation, the Land Grant Deans and Affiliated Private Institutions organization, and the U.S. Department of Education focused meetings around educational leadership. Each of these organizations was proactively responding to the increasingly urgent calls for changes in the way educational leadership is practiced and in how educational leaders are prepared and developed (Jackson & Kelley, 2002 [this issue]; Young, Petersen, & Short, 2002 [this issue]).

Trace fossils and marine-nonmarine cyclicity in the Fountain Formation (Pennsylvanian: Morrowan/Atokan) near Manitou Springs, Colorado

The Lower Pennsylvanian (Morrowan/Atokan) portion of the Fountain Formation in the Manitou Springs, Colorado, area commonly has been interpreted as a subaerial alluvial fan. However, approximately 12 marine-nonmarine cycles, each represented by a discrete progradational sequence, have been recognized within the lower third of the Fountain Formation in this area. The typical cycle is composed of six lithofacies: 1) transgressive-lag conglomerate; 2) offshore mudstone; 3) hummocky crossbedded sandstone; 4) planar crossbedded granular sandstone; 5) low-angle, crossbedded, coarse-grained sandstone; 6) lenticular conglomeratic sandstone. Only lithofacies 6 is nonmarine (alluvial) in origin. Two diverse trace-fossil assemblages (totalling 18 ichnogenera and 20 ichnospecies) within the Fountain Formation are restricted to the marine portions of the section, or to those portions within 1 m below marine-deposited strata. The assemblage includesArenicolites carbonarius,?A.ichnosp.,Aulichnites parkerensis,two types ofChondrites,?Conostichus broadheadi,?Crossopodiaichnosp.,Curvolithus manitouensis(ichnosp. nov.),Eioneichnosp.,Lockeiaichnosp.,Macaronichnus segregatis, Palaeophycus heberti, Palaeophycus striatus, Planolites beverleyensis, Psammichnites plummeri, Rhizocorallium irregulare,?Skolithosichnosp.,Taenidium serpentinum,?Teichichnusichnosp., ?Thalassinoidesichnosp., ?Zoophycosichnosp., and several unnamed traces.Trace fossils in the Fountain Formation can be used as indicators of sedimentary processes (e.g., rates of deposition, energy regime). Trace-fossil composition changes along a roughly south-to-north, nearshore-to-offshore gradient, generally reflecting increased influence and duration of normal-marine sedimentation. Ichnotaxa present and their distributions within marine strata in the lower part of the Fountain Formation suggest that they belong to theCurvolithusichnoassemblage, which has been shown to indicate high sedimentaiton rates in relatively nearshore shelf settings. TheCurvolithusichnoassemblage can be subdivided intoMacaronichnus-dominated andCurvolithus-dominated parts.Macaronichnus-dominated portions of the Fountain Formation indicate generally higher wave-energy sedimentation as compared withCurvolithus-dominated portions.

Influence of Depositional Processes on the Composition of Sandstone in a Wave-Dominated Fan Delta: ABSTRACT

Sandstone in the Lower Pennsylvanian (Morrowan-Atokan) portion of the Fountain Formation in the Manitou Springs, Colorado, area was derived from Precambrian granite gneiss and deposited in associated medial alluvial-fan, foreshore, shoreface, and offshore environments constituting a wave-dominated fan delta. The sandstone facies are arranged in six vertically stacked progradational sequences. The regressive marine portions of the sequences rest on a transgressive lag conglomerate and range from 5 to 9 m thick. The alluvial deposits capping each sequence are up to 20 m thick. The different sandstone facies of the fan delta system show variations in mineralogical composition. Because all of the sandstone facies share a common first-cycle provenance and burial history, differences in composition largely reflect differences in depositional-process control on composition. Foreshore sandstones possess maximum compositional maturity; offshore sandstone is most immature. Apparently feldspar is winnowed out of the foreshore sand, bypasses the shoreface, and is concentrated in offshore, storm-deposited sand. Alluvial and shoreface sandstone are intermediate in composition with QFR content of 55:35:10 and 60:35:5, respectively.

Pre-flood/Post-flood Mitigation Planning: The Manitou Springs, Colorado Case

Pre-flood/Post-flood Mitigation Planning: The Manitou Springs, Colorado Case

Citation indexes for scientific literature?

American DocumentationVolume 6, Issue 1 p. 31-32 Article Citation indexes for scientific literature? W. C. Adair, W. C. Adair Manitou Springs, Colorado.Search for more papers by this author W. C. Adair, W. C. Adair Manitou Springs, Colorado.Search for more papers by this author First published: January 1955 https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.5090060105Citations: 29 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume6, Issue1January 1955Pages 31-32 RelatedInformation