%1 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/ en Education at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/education-denver-museum-nature-and-science <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Education at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2020-07-31T15:28:24-06:00" title="Friday, July 31, 2020 - 15:28" class="datetime">Fri, 07/31/2020 - 15:28</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/education-denver-museum-nature-and-science" data-a2a-title="Education at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Feducation-denver-museum-nature-and-science&amp;title=Education%20at%20the%20Denver%20Museum%20of%20Nature%20and%20Science"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>The <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver-museum-nature-science-0"><strong>Denver Museum of Nature and Science</strong></a> (DMNS), previously the Colorado Museum of Natural History, was established in 1900. Although the museum has made many contributions to archaeology and anthropology, it has also played a crucial role in educating Coloradans about science and natural history.</p> <p>The museum represented the culmination of the shared visions of <strong>Edwin Carter</strong>, a naturalist based in <strong>Breckenridge</strong>, and John Francis Campion, a Denver businessman. The two men believed that such a museum would not only promote the rapidly growing city’s importance within the region, but also educate and entertain citizens. When Carter died in 1901, his private natural history collection of birds and mammals formed the basis of the Colorado Museum of Natural History. The museum opened to the public in 1908, providing citizens with the opportunity to experience and learn about the natural world of Colorado and beyond.</p> <p>Like New York City’s American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), on which the DMNS was modeled, and many other museums at the turn of the century, the guiding mission of DMNS has always focused on public science education. According to its founding document, the museum aimed to “encourage and aid the study of Natural Science [and] to advance the general knowledge of kindred subjects.” To further this mission the early exhibits at the DMNS concentrated on the natural world of the Rocky Mountain region. One of the most successful education programs supported educators in Denver public schools with their nature studies curriculum. Begun in the early 1910s, the partnership with the school system continues today. Thousands of schoolchildren had their first experiences with the natural world at the museum. For many children and their caretakers in the 1950s and 1960s, viewing and understanding the natural world was only possible by visiting the habitat dioramas, looking at displays of minerals, or watching a nature movie at the museum on a Saturday morning. The careful placement, labeling, and interpretation of specimens offered the museum-going public a new way to learn about the natural world.</p> <p>The museum’s governing board originally focused on collecting and exhibiting zoological specimens and objects from Colorado. As a relatively new state (Colorado became a state in 1876), little was known about the natural plants and wildlife in the region. A few local naturalists—scientists who study plants and animals—studied the wildlife of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains, but these studies were rarely disseminated to the general public. The Denver museum became a space where this new knowledge of Colorado’s wildlife could be shared with and enjoyed by a wide audience.</p> <p>The museum’s first professional director, Jesse D. Figgins, arrived in 1910 from AMNH. An experienced exhibit designer and field collector, Figgins proved to be a major influence on the intellectual development and organization of the museum. He introduced new collecting methods to ensure that the museum’s collections featured a wider representation of Colorado’s wildlife. Then, employing techniques learned at the AMNH, he set about designing and building new freestanding cases to hold animal groups. The groups often included a particular collection of animals mounted and displayed in front of a hand-painted flat background, which represented the animals’ natural habitat. The museum visitor viewed the animals from the front through a glass screen. These early dioramas became important educational exhibits for museum visitors.</p> <p>Figgins expanded the museum’s collections to include paleontology (the study of prehistoric animals) and archaeology. The first Colorado dinosaur to arrive at the museum was a partial skeleton of diplodocus in 1915. Dall DeWeese, a local resident, found the dinosaur in the Garden Park Fossil Area in <strong>Cañon City</strong>. DeWeese was concerned that Colorado’s dinosaurs and other fossils were being lost to eastern museums and universities. After DeWeese’s discovery, Figgins sent fieldworkers to find fossil sites around the state, and by 1920 one of the museum’s most productive sites for late Eocene mammals was discovered on the eastern plains of Colorado. A few years later, in the 1930s, Frederick Kessler—a Cañon City high school teacher—took a group of his students into the Garden Park Fossil area, where they found another dinosaur: stegosaurus. The stegosaurus became Colorado’s state fossil in 1982, and Kessler’s specimen is now on display in the walk-through exhibit <em>Prehistoric Journey, </em>which opened in 1995 and explores Colorado’s ancient environments. Today, paleontologists at the museum work throughout the American West and around the world, bringing back new discoveries and information about the earth’s past to share with museum visitors and the scientific community.</p> <p>The museum is renowned for the detailed habitat dioramas that represent different landscapes and animals from all over the world. Alfred M. Bailey, the second museum director, is credited with creating the larger diorama halls in the Denver museum. When the dioramas first appeared in the late 1930s and early 1940s, many visitors experienced the wildlife and landscapes of far-off places for the first time. Habitat dioramas, imitations of the natural environment, are large constructions built into the exhibit hall. They have curved backgrounds depicting scenic views that represent actual locations. In the foreground of the diorama, exhibit designers and workers place plants and rocks—accessories—similar to those found at the site, while in the middle ground they place the specimens of mammals and birds that fieldworkers collected from that area. The placement of specimens and accessories creates a three-dimensional effect that, in essence, tricks the eye of the beholder making it appear as if viewers are actually witnessing a natural scene through a glass window.</p> <p>Collecting zoological specimens and displaying them in the dioramas introduced the science of ecology to museum visitors. Visitors were able to see how different environments supported a variety of plant life and animals and learned about animals that were endangered or had become extinct as a result of human activity. Many visitors experienced the natural worlds of Alaska, the Amazon Basin, Antarctica, Australia, and Botswana through the work of museum fieldworkers, who had visited those places from the 1920s to the early 1970s. In an era before today’s nature movies and television documentaries helped the public learn about the intricacies of ecology, the DMNS’s first habitat dioramas served this function.</p> <p>The construction of the Botswana Hall dioramas in the 1970s coincided with the emergence of concern over the killing and poaching of Africa’s large mammals. By displaying African wildlife in a variety of environments, museum curators conveyed the connections between wildlife and the environment and helped raise awareness of the ecological pressures facing faraway places and animals. Moreover, for the first time at the museum, the Botswana Hall included exhibits connecting humans to the environment. The Botswana exhibit placed humans within nature instead of separated from it—a fundamental shift in the museum’s pedagogy.</p> <p>Since it opened in 1908, the DMNS has played an important role in educating Coloradans and others about the natural world, from the deep past through paleontology to the modern era through the display of wildlife specimens in habitat dioramas. The museum’s commitment to science education continues today.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/donofrio-karen-lloyd" hreflang="und">D’Onofrio, Karen Lloyd </a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/denver-museum-nature-and-science" hreflang="en">denver museum of nature and science</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/natural-history" hreflang="en">natural history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/science" hreflang="en">science</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/edwin-carter" hreflang="en">edwin carter</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/wildlife" hreflang="en">wildlife</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/education" hreflang="en">education</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Victoria Cain, “<a href="http://www.common-place-archives.org/vol-12/no-02/cain/">Professor Carter and His Collection: Amateur Naturalists and Their Museums</a>,” <em>Common-Place: The Interactive Journal of Early American Life </em>12, no. 2 (January 2012).</p> <p>Charles H. Hanington, “The Colorado Museum of Natural History: An Historical Sketch, <em>Proceedings of the Colorado Museum of Natural History </em>17, no. 1 (March 1, 1938).</p> <p>Kirk Johnson et al., “Denver’s Natural History Museum: A History,” <em>Denver Museum of Nature and Science Annals</em>, no. 4 (December 31, 2013).</p> <p>Kirk Johnson and Richard K. Stucky, <em>Prehistoric Journey: A History of Life on Earth </em>(Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 2006).</p> <p>Patricia Monaco, “A Short History of Dinosaur Collecting in the Garden Park Fossil Area, Cañon City, Colorado,” <em>Modern Geology </em>23, no. 4 (July 1998).</p> <p>Karen Wonders, “Habitat Dioramas and the Issue of Nativeness,” <em>Landscape Research </em>28, no. 1 (2003).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Bureau of Land Management, “<a href="http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/rgfo/paleontology.html">Geology and Paleontology</a>,” updated October 15, 2015.</p> <p>Denver Museum of Nature and Science, “<a href="https://www.dmns.org/science/museum-scientists/annual-reports">Annual Reports</a>.”</p> <p>Garden Park Fossil Area, “<a href="https://www.handsontheland.org/garden-park/history-kessler.html?showall=1">History</a>.”</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Fri, 31 Jul 2020 21:28:24 +0000 yongli 3400 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Land Use and Bird Life in Colorado http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/land-use-and-bird-life-colorado <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Land Use and Bird Life in Colorado</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2020-01-15T15:17:40-07:00" title="Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - 15:17" class="datetime">Wed, 01/15/2020 - 15:17</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/land-use-and-bird-life-colorado" data-a2a-title="Land Use and Bird Life in Colorado"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fland-use-and-bird-life-colorado&amp;title=Land%20Use%20and%20Bird%20Life%20in%20Colorado"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>In the early to mid-1800s, when Europeans and Euro-Americans began arriving in what is now Colorado, they encountered a landscape that was significantly different from what we see today. The changes that have occurred to the landscape since then have had significant impacts on the state’s natural history. In a well-known example, the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/fur-trade-colorado"><strong>fur trade</strong></a>, removal of Indigenous people, hunting, and mass conversion of prairie to farmland resulted in the near-extinction of the <a href="/article/bison"><strong>bison</strong></a>. The effects of changes in land use on bird populations are less familiar, but they are easy to observe and provide a great way to appreciate the avian fauna of our state as well as how humans are seamlessly connected to our living world.</p> <p>This article is focused on land use and bird life in <a href="/article/boulder-county"><strong>Boulder County</strong></a> on Colorado’s <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/front-range"><strong>Front Range</strong></a>. However, many of the same kinds of human-avian relationships can be observed elsewhere in the state, even if they play out in slightly different ways.</p> <h2>More Trees, Different Birds</h2> <p>Perhaps the most noticeable difference in the natural history of Boulder County over the past 150 years is the vast increase in trees on the plains and in some foothill areas. A pair of photographs in <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/silvia-pettem"><strong>Silvia Pettem</strong></a>’s book <em>Boulder: Evolution of a City</em> shows Mapleton Avenue in <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/boulder"><strong>Boulder</strong></a> during the 1890s, when silver maple saplings were first planted, juxtaposed with a view of the same area in the 1990s, illustrating how the presence of trees has created an entirely new habitat for birds over the past 100 years. Meanwhile, in the foothills and mountains west of Boulder, many areas were heavily logged in the mid-1800s and have slowly grown back. Thomas Veblen and Diane Lorenz show this change in paired photographs from the nineteenth and late twentieth centuries in their book <em>The Colorado Front Range: A Century of Ecological Change</em>. Because the logged trees were native species that eventually grew back, this change did not affect bird populations as much as introducing many new trees to the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado%E2%80%99s-great-plains"><strong>plains</strong></a>.</p> <p>Before the arrival of European Americans, the only trees on the plains were riparian—species associated with stream channels. <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/cottonwood-trees"><strong>Plains Cottonwoods</strong></a>, Peachleaf Willows, and a few other native species provided limited habitat for tree-dwelling and tree-nesting birds. Many of these birds, such as the yellow warbler and Bullock’s oriole, are still present today. But as the new immigrants planted trees in Boulder County and other towns and cities across Colorado, many Eastern woodland birds slowly extended their ranges into Colorado; examples include the blue jay, blue-gray gnatcatcher, northern flicker, bushtit, black-capped chickadee, and northern mockingbird. Even the northern cardinal and eastern phoebe have recently been sighted regularly in Boulder County and other parts of eastern Colorado. The spread of forest and urban habitats has also brought more common nonnative species, such as the European starling, the house sparrow, and, more recently, the Eurasian collared dove.</p> <p>The creation of urban forest habitats has also resulted in increased populations of red-tailed hawks and great horned owls owing to increased nesting and perching sites, and of Cooper’s hawks and sharp-shinned Hawks, which nest in trees and prey on woodland birds.</p> <p>As trees—along with urban development and agriculture—have displaced native prairie habitats, there has been a predictable decrease in bird species adapted to prairie life. Some, such as the plains sharp-tailed grouse, are long gone from Boulder County, while others—such as grasshopper, savannah, and fox sparrows—have become less common as their habitat or food sources declined. Lark buntings, horned larks, and species of longspurs are much less numerous now because of reduced prairie habitat. According to the bird-conservation group Partners in Flight<em>, </em>there has been an 86 percent decline in the population of Colorado’s <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/state-bird"><strong>state bird</strong></a>, the lark bunting, since 1970. The North American Breeding Bird Survey shows that populations of mountain plover also declined by 80 percent between 1966 and 2014.</p> <h2>More Ponds and Lakes, Different Birds</h2> <p>Perhaps even more striking than the effect of trees on bird populations on the Colorado Front Range is that of the large number of ponds and reservoirs built over the past 100 years. Before the arrival and settlement of Europeans and Euro-Americans in the mid- to late 1800s, there were no naturally occurring lakes or ponds on the plains of Colorado, other than the occasional widenings of streams and rivers. The landscape from a bird’s-eye view was one of arid grasslands and long, narrow, streamside habitats. Just as these riparian habitats provided trees for limited populations of woodland birds, the quiet, pondlike sections of rivers and streams supported limited populations of water birds. That all changed in the late nineteenth century.</p> <p>Boulder’s first reservoir was built in 1876. Starting at about the same time, ponds and larger reservoirs began to be built in earnest all over the Colorado plains. A satellite view today reveals hundreds of reservoirs and ponds all over the Front Range and eastern plains of Colorado, especially near towns and cities. These features have provided huge new habitats for many birds that previously were either not present or present in very small numbers. The vast proliferation of human-made ponds and reservoirs has resulted in the long-term and common presence of double-crested cormorants, common and red-breasted Mergansers, ospreys, bald eagles, various species of grebes and shorebirds, and virtually all species of diving ducks on the plains of Colorado.</p> <p>The American white pelican is a visible and fitting example of a bird whose presence in Colorado has been vastly changed by the presence of human-made reservoirs. Although white pelicans had always migrated through Colorado, which lies between their southern wintering areas and natural prairie lakes in Canada and the northern United States, their long-term presence in Colorado is almost entirely due to reservoirs. On the Colorado Birding Trail website, for example, all locations for white pelicans (including new, breeding populations) are reservoirs.<br /> <br /> Sometimes these pelicans have helped solve other human-made problems in Colorado’s reservoirs. For example, in the early 2010s, one Boulder County reservoir, the twelve-acre Teller Lake No. 5, became infested with thousands of nonnative goldfish. State wildlife biologists considered various solutions, including draining the lake or shocking it and removing the stunned goldfish. But in spring 2015, white pelicans descended on Teller Lake No. 5 and ate virtually all the goldfish, presenting state biologists with a hassle-free solution.</p> <h2>Other Land-Use Changes</h2> <p>Smaller-scale, more subtle human land-use patterns have also had an effect on Colorado bird populations. According to Steve Jones, Boulder County naturalist and author of <em>A Field Guide to the North American Prairie</em>, when ranching on semiurban grasslands is replaced by industrial use or land speculation for development, there is a short-term burst in prairie dog numbers because there are fewer incentives for landowners to poison them. Jones believes that in the 1980s this rise in prairie dog population fueled an influx of wintering ferruginous hawks into Boulder County. Jones also notes that the removal of cattle from mountain meadows, foothill shrublands, and plains riparian areas during the past fifty years has contributed to the proliferation of birds such as yellow-breasted chats, gray catbirds, ovenbirds, and more.</p> <p>Finally, although climate change is a result of worldwide land-use changes, its impact in Colorado should not be neglected. Warming average temperatures may already be affecting Colorado bird populations. Many migratory species are arriving earlier in the spring and nesting at higher elevations. Habitat for species that nest above the tree line is shrinking, contributing to a population decrease among brown-capped rosy finches and white-tailed ptarmigan. Over the next several decades, further drying of Colorado’s grasslands, shrublands, and foothills forests may cause the composition of our nesting bird populations to resemble that of present-day New Mexico.</p> <h2>Beyond Boulder County</h2> <p>Importantly, the human-bird relationships observed in Boulder County can also be observed in different parts of the state in different ways. For instance, populations of greater <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/sage-grouse"><strong>sage grouse</strong></a> in western Colorado have been negatively affected by the replacement of <a href="/article/sagebrush"><strong>sagebrush</strong></a> grasslands by agriculture and oil and gas activity, as well as by more frequent fires resulting from the introduction of nonnative, weedy plants such as cheatgrass. In addition, the creation and fish stocking of large reservoirs on the <a href="/article/western-slope"><strong>Western Slope</strong></a>, such as <strong>Blue Mesa Reservoir</strong> in <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/gunnison-county"><strong>Gunnison County</strong></a>, have attracted many of the same species that are now more common in Boulder County, such as herons and pelicans. Essentially, wherever humans have made drastic changes to the land and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/water-colorado"><strong>water</strong></a> in Colorado, drastic changes in the bird populations have followed, a consistent reminder of our inescapable place within the natural world.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/ogle-martin" hreflang="und">Ogle, Martin</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-birds" hreflang="en">colorado birds</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/wildlife" hreflang="en">wildlife</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/wildlife-management" hreflang="en">wildlife management</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/reservoirs" hreflang="en">reservoirs</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/irrigation" hreflang="en">irrigation</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/pelican" hreflang="en">pelican</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/birds" hreflang="en">birds</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Charlie Brennan, “<a href="https://www.dailycamera.com/2015/04/28/hungry-pelicans-credited-with-gobbling-thousands-of-goldfish-infesting-boulder-lake/">Hungry Pelicans Credited with Gobbling Thousands of Goldfish Infesting Boulder Lake</a>,” <em>Boulder Daily Camera</em>, April 28, 2015.</p> <p>Colorado Birding Trail, “<a href="https://coloradobirdingtrail.com/american-white-pelican/">American White Pelican</a>,” n.d.</p> <p>Partners in Flight, “<a href="https://pif.birdconservancy.org/ACAD/Database.aspx">Avian Conservation Assessment Database</a>,” 2017.</p> <p>Silvia Pettem, <em>Boulder: Evolution of a City </em>(Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1994).</p> <p>US Fish and Wildlife Service, “<a href="https://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/factsheets/Sage-steppe_022814.pdf">The Sage-Steppe Ecosystem</a>,” n.d.</p> <p>US Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, “<a href="https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/">North American Breeding Bird Survey</a>,” n.d.</p> <p>Thomas T. Veblen and Diane C. Lorenz,<em> The Colorado Front Range: A Century of Ecological Change</em> (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1991).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Efthymia Giosa, Christos Mammides, and Savvas Zotos, “<a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0197286">The Importance of Artificial Wetlands for Birds: A Case Study From Cyprus</a>,” <em>PLOS One</em>, May 10, 2018.</p> <p>Natalie Triedman, “<a href="https://www.coloradocollege.edu/dotAsset/cbb78858-d078-4a7c-ba80-2040569abbdd.pdf">Environment and Ecology of the Colorado River Basin</a>,” 2012 Colorado College State of the Rockies Report Card.<br /> &nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-4th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-4th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-4th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-4th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-4th-grade"><p>In the 1800s, settlers came to Colorado. The land looked different. This article is about changes in Boulder County.</p> <h2>More Trees, Different Birds</h2> <p>Before settlers, the only trees on the plains grew near streams. Plains Cottonwoods and Peachleaf Willows were habitat for birds. Then, people started planting trees. The new trees brought Eastern bird species, like the house sparrow, to Colorado.</p> <p>More red-tailed hawks and great horned owls came. The number of Cooper’s hawks and sharp-shinned Hawks, which nest in trees, also grew.</p> <p>However, there are fewer prairie birds. The plains sharp-tailed grouse is gone from Boulder County. Other birds are less common. There has been an 86 percent decrease in Colorado’s state bird, the lark bunting, since 1970. The number of mountain plover fell by 80 percent between 1966 and 2014.</p> <h2>More Ponds and Lakes, Different Birds</h2> <p>There didn't used to be lakes or ponds on the plains of Colorado. Instead, there were grasslands and streams. Settlers changed that.</p> <p>Boulder’s first reservoir was built in 1876. About the same time, more ponds and reservoirs were built across the state. Today, there are hundreds of reservoirs and ponds in Colorado. The reservoirs have created new habitat for birds. They have attracted double-crested cormorants and bald eagles.</p> <p>The American white pelican has changed its behavior because of reservoirs. White pelicans always migrated through Colorado. Now, they stay longer.</p> <p>The pelicans have helped solve human-made problems. In the early 2010s, nonnative goldfish were living in a Boulder County reservoir. Scientists wanted to remove the fish. In spring 2015, white pelicans came and ate them.</p> <h2>Other Land-Use Changes</h2> <p>Other land-uses have impacted birds. Cattle ranches have been replaced by development. This causes a short-term increase in prairie dogs. People have fewer reasons to poison them. More prairie dogs brought wintering ferruginous hawks into Boulder County.</p> <p>Climate change may also be affecting birds. Warmer temperatures mean migratory birds are coming earlier. The birds are also nesting at higher elevations. There is less habitat for birds that nest above the tree line. This means fewer brown-capped rosy finches and white-tailed ptarmigan.</p> <h2>Beyond Boulder County</h2> <p>Development is causing changes in other parts of Colorado. The Greater sage grouse has been hurt by farming and oil and gas activity. On the Western Slope, large reservoirs like Blue Mesa have brought in herons and pelicans.</p> <p>Wherever humans have made changes, birds have changed too.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-8th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-8th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-8th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-8th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-8th-grade"><p>In the 1800s, when settlers began arriving in Colorado, they encountered a different landscape.</p> <p>This article focuses on land use and bird life in Boulder County.</p> <h2>More Trees, Different Birds</h2> <p>Before settlers arrived, the only trees on the plains grew near streams. Plains Cottonwoods, Peachleaf Willows, and a few others provided habitat for birds. As settlers planted trees, many Eastern woodland birds extended their ranges into Colorado. The new habitat brought nonnative species, such as the European starling and the house sparrow.</p> <p>The creation of urban forests has attracted more red-tailed hawks and great horned owls. The number of Cooper’s hawks and sharp-shinned Hawks, which nest in trees, has also increased.</p> <p>As development changed native habitats, there has been a decrease in prairie birds. The plains sharp-tailed grouse is gone from Boulder County. Others—such as grasshopper, savannah, and fox sparrows—have become less common.</p> <p>There has been an 86 percent decrease in Colorado’s state bird, the lark bunting, since 1970. Populations of mountain plover also declined by 80 percent between 1966 and 2014.</p> <p>More Ponds and Lakes, Different Birds</p> <p>Before settlers arrived, there were no naturally occurring lakes or ponds on the plains of Colorado. The landscape was one of grasslands and long, narrow, streamside habitats. That all changed in the late nineteenth century.</p> <p>Boulder’s first reservoir was built in 1876. About the same time, more ponds and reservoirs were built elsewhere in the state. Today, there are hundreds of reservoirs and ponds all over Colorado. The reservoirs have provided new habitats for birds. They have attracted double-crested cormorants, ospreys, and bald eagles.</p> <p>The American white pelican is an example of a bird whose presence has been changed by reservoirs. Although white pelicans always migrated through Colorado, now, they stay longer.</p> <p>The pelicans have helped solve human-made problems. In the early 2010s, a Boulder County reservoir became infested with nonnative goldfish. Biologists considered solutions, but in spring 2015, white pelicans came and ate the goldfish.</p> <h2>Other Land-Use Changes</h2> <p>More subtle land-use patterns have had an effect on bird populations. When ranches are replaced by development, there is a short-term increase in prairie dogs.&nbsp; Landowners have fewer reasons to poison them. More prairie dogs brought wintering ferruginous hawks into Boulder County during the 1980's. Removing cattle also caused an increase in yellow-breasted chats and gray catbirds.</p> <p>The impact of climate change in Colorado must also be considered. Warmer temperatures may be affecting Colorado bird populations. Migratory species are arriving earlier and nesting at higher elevations. Habitat for species that nest above the tree line is shrinking. This means fewer brown-capped rosy finches and white-tailed ptarmigan.</p> <h2>Beyond Boulder County</h2> <p>The effects of development can also be seen in other parts of the state. Greater sage grouse numbers have been hurt by agriculture and oil and gas activity. Large reservoirs on the Western Slope, such as Blue Mesa Reservoir, have attracted herons and pelicans.</p> <p>Wherever humans have made changes, changes in the bird populations have followed.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-10th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-10th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-10th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-10th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-10th-grade"><p>In the early to mid-1800s, when Europeans and Euro-Americans began arriving in what is now Colorado, they encountered a landscape that was very different from what we see today.</p> <p>This article focuses on land use and bird life in Boulder County. However, many of the same kinds of human-avian relationships can be observed elsewhere in the state.</p> <h2>More Trees, Different Birds</h2> <p>Before the arrival of European Americans, the only trees on the plains were riparian species that grow near streams. Plains Cottonwoods, Peachleaf Willows, and a few other native species provided limited habitat for birds. Many of these birds, such as the yellow warbler and Bullock’s oriole, are still present today. As new immigrants planted trees, many Eastern woodland birds extended their ranges into Colorado. The spread of forest and urban habitats has also brought more common nonnative species, such as the European starling, the house sparrow, and the Eurasian collared dove.</p> <p>The creation of urban forest habitats has also resulted in increased populations of red-tailed hawks and great horned owls. The number of Cooper’s hawks and sharp-shinned Hawks, which nest in trees and prey on woodland birds, has also increased.</p> <p>As trees, urban development and agriculture displaced native prairie habitats, there has been a decrease in bird species adapted to prairie life. Some, such as the plains sharp-tailed grouse, are gone from Boulder County. Others—such as grasshopper, savannah, and fox sparrows—have become less common. Lark buntings, horned larks, and species of longspurs are less numerous now because of reduced prairie habitat.</p> <p>According to the bird-conservation group Partners in Flight, there has been an 86 percent decline in the population of Colorado’s state bird, the lark bunting, since 1970. Populations of mountain plover also declined by 80 percent between 1966 and 2014.</p> <h2>More Ponds and Lakes, Different Birds</h2> <p>Before settlers arrived, there were no naturally occurring lakes or ponds on the plains of Colorado. The landscape from a bird’s-eye view was one of grasslands and long, narrow, streamside habitats. The pondlike sections of rivers and streams supported limited populations of water birds. That all changed in the late nineteenth century.</p> <p>Boulder’s first reservoir was built in 1876. About the same time, more ponds and reservoirs were built elsewhere in the state. A satellite view today reveals hundreds of reservoirs and ponds all over Colorado. The reservoirs have provided new habitats for birds. They have attracted double-crested cormorants, common and red-breasted Mergansers, ospreys, and bald eagles.</p> <p>The American white pelican is an example of a bird whose presence in Colorado has been changed by reservoirs. Although white pelicans had always migrated through Colorado, their long-term presence is almost entirely due to reservoirs.</p> <p>These pelicans have helped solve human-made problems. In the early 2010s, one Boulder County reservoir became infested with thousands of nonnative goldfish. Biologists considered various solutions, but in spring 2015, white pelicans descended on the lake and ate the goldfish.</p> <h2>Other Land-Use Changes</h2> <p>More subtle land-use patterns have also had an effect on bird populations. When ranching on semiurban grasslands is replaced by industrial use or development, there is a short-term burst in prairie dog numbers.&nbsp; Landowners have fewer reasons to poison them. This rise in prairie dog population fueled an influx of wintering ferruginous hawks into Boulder County during the 1980's. The removal of cattle from mountain meadows, foothill shrublands, and plains riparian areas during the past fifty years has contributed to the proliferation of birds such as yellow-breasted chats, gray catbirds, ovenbirds, and more.</p> <p>The impact of climate change in Colorado must also be considered. Warming temperatures may already be affecting Colorado bird populations. Many migratory species are arriving earlier in the spring and nesting at higher elevations. Habitat for species that nest above the tree line is shrinking. This is contributing to a decrease in brown-capped rosy finches and white-tailed ptarmigan.</p> <h2>Beyond Boulder County</h2> <p>The human-bird relationships observed in Boulder County can also be observed in different parts of the state. Populations of greater sage grouse in western Colorado have been negatively impacted by agriculture, oil and gas activity, and fires. The creation and fish stocking of large reservoirs on the Western Slope, such as Blue Mesa Reservoir in Gunnison County, have attracted many of the same species that are now more common in Boulder County, such as herons and pelicans.</p> <p>Wherever humans have made changes to the land and water in Colorado, changes in the bird populations have followed.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Wed, 15 Jan 2020 22:17:40 +0000 yongli 3118 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Great Eclipse of 1878 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/great-eclipse-1878 <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Great Eclipse of 1878</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2017-01-18T13:51:44-07:00" title="Wednesday, January 18, 2017 - 13:51" class="datetime">Wed, 01/18/2017 - 13:51</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/great-eclipse-1878" data-a2a-title="Great Eclipse of 1878"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fgreat-eclipse-1878&amp;title=Great%20Eclipse%20of%201878"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>In 1878 a widely publicized total solar eclipse passed over the state of Colorado. The so-called Great Eclipse of 1878 would garner national attention for the state, as it was the ideal place to view the event thanks to the higher elevation and ready access to tall mountain peaks—perfect places for observatories. As an event that highlighted the United States’ ever-growing scientific literacy during the late 1800s, the Great Eclipse was one of the first times that Colorado enjoyed the national spotlight for something other than mineral wealth or frontier violence. &nbsp;Eclipse viewing was also a part of Colorado’s early tourism industry.</p> <h2>Reporting the Great Eclipse</h2> <p>In 1876 a small news item in a <a href="/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a> paper may have been the first indication that two years from then an awesome natural spectacle would take place in the skies above Colorado. On March 27, 1876, <strong><em>The</em> <em>Denver Post</em></strong> reported that in July 1878, a total solar eclipse would pass over the state. The paper even claimed with evident pride that “it does not appear that [the eclipse] will be total at any other city now existing in the United States.”</p> <p>Most Coloradans were probably unaware that their state would host a major scientific event until the beginning of 1878, when other Colorado papers began reporting on the upcoming phenomenon. On January 26, the <em>Silver World</em> of <a href="/article/lake-city-0"><strong>Lake City</strong></a> briefly noted that the eclipse would occur over Colorado in July. By March, word was starting to spread. The <em>Denver Tribune</em> ran a short piece noting the advantage that the state would afford observers, claiming that “each one of the rival astronomers can have a peak to himself.” By April, newspapers across the state were publishing the exact time that the eclipse would begin. Colorado was ready, but would the astronomers come? Eclipse expeditions were not cheap, and the federal government had still not appropriated the funds necessary to bring astronomers out west.</p> <p>The <em>Pueblo Chieftain</em> of July 11 noted: “Congress has appropriated $8,000” for eclipse observations. This amount was given to the United States Naval Observatory to administer and fund multiple eclipse expeditions to the <strong>Rocky Mountains</strong>. The <em>Chieftain</em> went on to describe the constitution of the various expeditions: their leaders, the astronomers who would be making observations, and the locations from which the eclipse would be observed: Creston, Wyoming; Denver and <strong>Central City</strong>; and the summit of <a href="/article/pikes-peak"><strong>Pikes Peak</strong>,</a> among others.</p> <h2>Expeditions</h2> <p>Astronomers had calculated that the path of the eclipse would run down the spine of the Rocky Mountains, from southern Wyoming Territory through much of central Colorado and south into Texas. In Colorado, observers would be able to view the eclipse from established cities (Denver and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-springs"><strong>Colorado Springs</strong></a>), known mining communities (such as Central City and <a href="/article/georgetown%E2%80%93silver-plume-historic-district"><strong>Georgetown</strong></a>), and small <a href="/article/colorado%E2%80%99s-great-plains"><strong>plains</strong></a> towns along rail lines (such as <strong>Las Animas </strong>and <strong>La Junta</strong>). The Pennsylvania Railroad Company gave professional astronomers from Europe and the United States half-price fare from the East Coast to Denver, via Chicago or St. Louis. Other railroads offered similar discounts. And so, as the eclipse approached, astronomers arrived in Colorado by the dozens.</p> <p>Although an important expedition consisting of Simon Newcomb (then director of the Navy’s Nautical Almanac Office) and Thomas Edison went to Creston, Wyoming, and other astronomers went to Texas, Colorado got the lion’s share of eclipse expeditions. One group made up of observers from the Naval Observatory, Johns Hopkins University, and West Point went to Central City and observed the eclipse from the roof of the <strong>Teller House</strong> hotel. Astronomers from New York and St. Louis went to <strong>Idaho Springs</strong>. Charles Young, a proponent of high-altitude astronomical observations, led the Princeton University expedition that would observe near <strong>Cherry Creek</strong>, while the budding astronomer William Henry Pickering also observed nearby. Samuel Pierpont Langley, then with the Allegheny Observatory, would scale Pikes Peak with his brother, Professor John Langley, and meteorologist Cleveland Abbe. Asaph Hall, the astronomer who had just discovered the moons of Mars in 1877, would take his expedition to La Junta. Of course, all of these astronomers brought a support crew to help transport their equipment, set up instruments, and aid in other technical aspects of the observations.</p> <p>As beautiful as total solar eclipse is to watch, scientists coming to Colorado to observe it had a specific research agenda. During the eclipse, with no direct sunlight to blind them, the observers would be able to study the solar corona (the sun’s “atmosphere”) From Colorado’s higher elevations, where Earth’s own atmosphere is less dense, astronomers hoped to settle once and for all that there was an undiscovered planet (known by legend as “Vulcan”) that many believed would be found between Mercury and the sun, and which (if it even existed) could only be observed during a total eclipse.</p> <h2>Great Eclipse, Vulcan, and Tourism</h2> <p>Colorado also played host to a horde of eclipse tourists, and Colorado Springs was a particularly popular spot. In June the <em>Chicago Times</em> reported on a “mammoth excursion from the [Great] lakes to the mountains,” with all those Midwestern tourists heading for the <strong>Garden of the Gods</strong>. In the week before the eclipse, the weekly <em>Colorado Chieftain</em> reported that “Colorado Springs, Manitou, the Garden of the Gods, and Pike’s Peak are being thronged with visitors from Europe and the states.” Indeed, even US senators came to view the spectacle. The <em>Chieftain</em> continued, “Many United States senators, under the lead of <a href="/article/henry-teller"><strong>Senator Henry Teller</strong></a>, are already at the Manitou House, and others are expected.” Tents were set up in the Garden of the Gods, where local spectators could watch the eclipse for a twenty-five cent fee.</p> <p>Coloradans were excited to participate in the observations. Earlier in the year the US Naval Observatory had published and distributed a thirty-page booklet called <em>Instructions for Observing the Total Solar Eclipse of July 29, 1878</em>. The observatory prepared the booklet for those “persons who may witness the total solar eclipse of July 29, and who may desire to co-operate with the United States Naval Observatory.” The booklet included basic instructions for observing the eclipse, such as the importance of noting the exact time totality began and ended in an observer’s particular location, how to most accurately sketch the sun’s corona, and how to use a telescope to search for Vulcan.</p> <h2>The Great Eclipse Arrives</h2> <p>On the day of the eclipse, luck was on Colorado’s side: the morning dawned bright and clear, and the skies remained cloudless into the afternoon. The relief felt by many in Colorado might best be summed up by the report that came in from Walter Spencer, the <em>Denver Times </em>reporter stationed in Castle Rock: “Weather splendid for eclipse—clear as hell.” The <em>Georgetown Courier</em> later reported: “Monday morning the sun rose … in a cloudless sky, and every sign bespoke a genuine Colorado summer day for the great event astronomers had promised.” In Colorado Springs, according to the <em>Colorado Chieftain</em>, “Seats upon the balconies of our best houses are all engaged, and elevated platforms are being erected upon our public square. The windows in our church steeples have been leased—those facing the eclipse at fifty cents and those facing in the opposite direction at half price.” If press reports are even partially true, it seems that absolutely everyone who was able stopped whatever they were doing and went outside to see the eclipse. In Denver, banks shut down, stores closed, and the streets filled with awestruck observers. The day after the eclipse, the <em>Denver Tribune</em> was perhaps the most effusive:</p> <p>In the presence of so many bright and shining lights of science … THE TRIBUNE cannot let the occasion pass by without complimenting Colorado on the beautiful weather she furnished for the occasion, and the general success which attended the exhibition. It was a notable event in our history.</p> <p>In the days following the eclipse, towns and their newspapers vied for the title of best viewing place, best turnout, best scientific results, and which town generally “did” the eclipse the best.</p> <p>Newspapers boasted about the results scientists obtained while working in their vicinity. A few reports announced that astronomers working around Colorado had discovered Vulcan, but their results were preliminary and had to be reviewed (and of course, we now know no such planet exists). Perhaps more interesting was the discovery of “streamers,” giant solar rays extending out from the sun’s corona. These streamers spread outward to a distance of more than ten million miles, up to twelve times the sun’s diameter. It was an extraordinary discovery. The streamers were most accurately captured by Samuel P. Langley from the summit of Pikes Peak, where the atmosphere was crystal clear.</p> <h2>Aftermath</h2> <p>The 1878 eclipse was Colorado’s scientific coming-out party, marking the state’s beginning as a favored location for scientific research. Twenty years later, <strong>Nikola Tesla</strong> would come to Colorado Springs to conduct electrical experiments in Colorado’s high, dry air. In the short term, Colorado became a leader in astronomy in the American west. As a direct result of the 1878 eclipse expeditions, <strong>Colorado College</strong> (founded in 1874) received one of its first scientific instruments: a four-foot telescope brought in from Brooklyn to observe the eclipse.</p> <p>Most important for Colorado was what the “Great Eclipse” did for the young state’s pride. The eclipse put Colorado on the map scientifically and, to a significant degree, culturally as well. With so much uncertainty about the weather until the very last moment, the anxiety and potential for major disappointment were high. But Colorado’s weather held true, and observation of the eclipse went off without a hitch. For a few brief moments in its young history, even though the sky was dark overhead, Colorado was grandly illuminated in the eyes of the rest of the world.</p> <p><strong>Adapted from Steve Ruskin, “‘Among the Favored Mortals of Earth’: The Press, State Pride, and the Eclipse of 1878,” <em>Colorado Heritage Magazine,</em> 28 no. 3 (2008). </strong></p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/eclipse" hreflang="en">Eclipse</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/solar-eclipse" hreflang="en">Solar Eclipse</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/great-eclipse-1878" hreflang="en">Great Eclipse of 1878</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/1878" hreflang="en">1878</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Richard Baum and William Sheehan,&nbsp;<em>In Search of Planet Vulcan: The Ghost in Newton’s Clockwork Universe</em> (New York: Plenum Press, 1997).</p> <p>Steven J. Dick,&nbsp;<em>Sky and Ocean Joined: The U.S. Naval Observatory, 1830–2000</em> (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2003).</p> <p>Alex Soojung-Kim Pang,&nbsp;<em>Empire and the Sun: Victorian Solar Eclipse Expeditions</em> (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2002).</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Wed, 18 Jan 2017 20:51:44 +0000 yongli 2164 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Colorado Geology http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-geology <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Colorado Geology</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--937--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--937.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/roxborough-state-park-colorado"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Roxborough-State-Park-Colorado-John-Fielder_0.jpg?itok=sZ9KrS1q" width="1090" height="852" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/roxborough-state-park-colorado" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Roxborough State Park, Colorado</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Much of Colorado was once covered by an ancient seafloor. The vertical red rocks at places like <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/roxborough-state-park-archaeological-district"><strong>Roxborough State Park</strong></a>, west of <a href="/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a>, or the Flatirons west of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/boulder"><strong>Boulder</strong></a>, are dramatic remnants of that seafloor, pushed up along with the rest of the <a href="/article/rocky-mountains"><strong>Rocky Mountains</strong></a> some 65 million years ago.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2016-06-24T14:26:50-06:00" title="Friday, June 24, 2016 - 14:26" class="datetime">Fri, 06/24/2016 - 14:26</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-geology" data-a2a-title="Colorado Geology"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fcolorado-geology&amp;title=Colorado%20Geology"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>The Earth beneath the rugged mountains and serene plains of Colorado records an ancient saga. Broad tropical seas teemed with life, while reptiles roamed on shore. Continents converged and collided, building massive mountains, only to be torn apart by the movements of colossal tectonic plates. Volcanoes raged, and scalding fluids carrying dissolved metals churned through fissures to make future riches. A huge lake ebbed and flowed, linked to the fortunes of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/glaciers"><strong>glaciers</strong></a>, and fields of towering sand dunes grew against walls of new mountains. Even today, in the paper-thin history of civilization, rocks and saturated soils rush downhill to remind us that we live on a restless, dynamic Earth.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Tropical Seas and Pangaea</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Late in the Paleozoic Era, some 300 million years ago, when the Ancestral <a href="/article/rocky-mountains"><strong>Rocky Mountains</strong></a> were being worn by weather to low hills, warm inland seas covered parts of Colorado. Life forms very different from those of today swam and flourished in the waters. Fossil records of those life forms are contained in layers of mudstone and limestone.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>At the end of the Paleozoic Era, the restless continental plates collided again to create the supercontinent Pangaea. As the land rose and a Sahara-like desert of enormous proportions covered the continent, the interior seas retreated. But as large as Pangaea was, it too eventually began to be torn apart by the powerful tectonic forces that made it, and the seas returned. Life on land left distinctive marks, most famously the dinosaur footprints and fossil remains throughout the state.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As Pangaea fragmented, a breakaway piece called Laurentia drifted westward and a series of collisions with other, smaller continental pieces gave rise to the present-day Rocky Mountains. This phoenix-like rebirth of the Rockies started between 60 and 70 million years ago, during a mountain-building event called the Laramide Orogeny. As the peaks rose, they were eroded by wind, water, and ice. Wind and water carried the material eroded from the mountains, covering the area we now call the<a href="/article/colorado%E2%80%99s-great-plains"><strong> Great Plains</strong></a>. The rise of the Rockies continues today. The sedimentary rocks that formed the floor of the warm inland seas were warped upward against the new mountains, leaving huge triangular cliff facets, locally known as flatirons. From high viewpoints, it is easy to imagine the mountains pushing the flat-lying rocks upward.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Creation of Ore Deposits</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>As the tectonic plates jostled and collided, some were pushed deeper into the Earth, where they melted. The newly formed liquid rock burned upward to escape back to the surface, where it created volcanoes and lava fields. The mountains of south-central Colorado host the remains of an enormous ancient supervolcano, one that produced the largest single eruption known in the Earth’s entire geologic history. The single eruption rained volcanic material so fast that the thickly falling layers retained enough heat to weld back into solid rock. The molten material was mixed with gases, and during the eruption, the gigantic cavern below the volcano collapsed back on itself, creating a deep, wide crater approximately one mile deep.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>This supervolcano is named the La Garita Caldera, after a town on the west side of Colorado’s <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-luis-valley"><strong>San Luis Valley</strong></a>. The La Garita Caldera is only one of twenty-plus smaller but similar calderas throughout the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-juan-mountains"><strong>San Juan Mountains</strong></a>. The calderas have local names, such as the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/silverton-0"><strong>Silverton</strong></a>, <a href="/article/lake-city-0"><strong>Lake City</strong></a>, and <a href="/article/creede"><strong>Creede</strong></a> calderas. The calderas are deceptively nestled together in the mountains, with the remnants of their circular outlines hinting at a violent history 25 million years ago.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The destructive eruptions of the volcanoes gave rise to a important facet of Colorado’s history: its vast mineral wealth, which lured a stampede of miners in the mid-nineteenth century. The molten rock beneath the volcanoes often gave rise to superhot and metal-rich waters that pushed for miles outward into cracks and fissures. The invading hot waters dissolved and reacted with the surrounding rocks to make rich ore deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, and many other metal-bearing minerals throughout the state.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Great Sand Dunes</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>About 500,000 years ago—not so long ago in geologic time—the San Luis Valley of south-central Colorado was underwater. Lake Alamosa covered much of the valley, in a cycle of filling and drying as glaciers melted and grew again through many ice ages. Former shorelines, bays, and lagoons are still visible in the southern part of the valley, rimming what was once a body of water nearly 2,000 square miles on the surface and perhaps as deep as 200 feet over the present-day city of Alamosa. As the lake bottom filled with sediments and soils, and again with water, the lake’s surface eventually overflowed a natural dam and cut a deep channel that is now part of the Rio Grande Gorge.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The tallest dune field in the United States lies to the east of ancient Lake Alamosa, protected in the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/great-sand-dunes-national-park-and-preserve"><strong>Great Sand Dunes National Park</strong></a>. The dunes are believed to have formed after Lake Alamosa drained and prevailing winds blew much of the sand up and out of the lakebed to rest against the <strong>Sangre de Cristo Range</strong>. Today, visitors to the park climb, play, and enjoy what glaciers, winds, and water brought to a pocket in the mountains.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Plateaus of Western Colorado</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>To the west of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado is a region called the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/western-slope"><strong>Western Slope</strong></a>. Remnants of ancient seas are also present. These ancient-sea sedimentary rocks are warped upwards in some areas with flatiron forms similar to the ones on the Eastern Slope. Where the rocks are still flat-lying, there is often a cap of younger lava, a dark-colored rock called basalt that resists weathering and erosion. The basalt creates a protective cap over the softer underlying rocks, forming distinctive flat-topped hills called mesas (Spanish for “tables”). The largest of these mesas is <strong>Grand Mesa</strong> just east of <a href="/article/grand-junction"><strong>Grand Junction</strong></a>. The mesas are often dotted with small lakes and covered with trees, providing important surface and groundwater reservoirs. Hardened sandstones also cap softer rocks in some areas, forming dramatic pillar shapes, explained by some as supernatural. In formations such as the Book Cliffs north of Grand Junction, massive cliffs tower like toppled tomes, with durable mesa covers binding pages of the Earth’s history.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Modern Movements</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The geologic forces that were active in the past are still active today. In the nineteenth century, tumbling rocks and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/snow"><strong>snow</strong></a> often blocked or destroyed stretches of railroad track and hampered railroad construction. Modern Coloradans were grimly reminded of the state’s geologic hazards in May 2014, when a thick rock-and-debris <a href="/article/avalanche"><strong>avalanche</strong></a> tumbled down from a high mesa in western Colorado for nearly three miles at speeds between 45 and 85 miles per hour. Three men died in the avalanche, which occurred after a period of significant rainfall saturated sediments that had been deposited millions of years earlier. The sediments had been exposed by the downward-cutting streams and rivers that carved the modern valley the avalanche rushed into. Another reminder of the precarious interplay between geology and infrastructure occurred on February 15, 2016, when a rock slide in <strong>Glenwood Canyon</strong> in <a href="/article/garfield-county"><strong>Garfield County</strong></a> forced the closure of twenty-four miles of <a href="/article/interstate-70"><strong>Interstate 70</strong></a> for about a week.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Reflections</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Crossing the plains into Colorado from its eastern neighbors, it is easy to imagine the land once being the bottom of an ancient sea. Looking north and south, where the peaks spike upward from the flatlands, the immense movement of mountains seems impossible, as do the threats of lightning-filled, ash-laden volcanic clouds from millions of years ago. Continuing westward through spectacular canyons, it is hard to fathom that a small shrug of a restless Earth could change the course of a river in a flash. But pause and try to envision the dynamic processes that shaped the land, and that checkered saga will come alive.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/benson-robert" hreflang="und">Benson, Robert</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-geology" hreflang="en">colorado geology</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/rocky-mountains" hreflang="en">Rocky Mountains</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/geology" hreflang="en">geology</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/formation-rocky-mountains" hreflang="en">formation of rocky mountains</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/fossils" hreflang="en">fossils</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ore-deposits" hreflang="en">ore deposits</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-plateau" hreflang="en">colorado plateau</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/canyons" hreflang="en">canyons</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/grand-mesa" hreflang="en">grand mesa</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/western-slope" hreflang="en">Western Slope</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Chuck Hickey, “<a href="https://kdvr.com/news/one-lane-of-both-decks-of-i-70-in-glenwood-canyon-reopens-after-rock-slide/">One Lane on Both Decks of I-70 in Glenwood Canyon Reopens After Rock Slide</a>,” KDVR, March 10, 2016.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Michael N. Machette, Mary-Margaret Coates, and Margo L. Johnson, “<a href="https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1193/">2007 Rocky Mountain Section Friends of the Pleistocene Field Trip—Quaternary Geology of the San Luis Basin of Colorado and New Mexico, September 7–9</a>,”<em> US Geological Survey Open-File Report 2007-1193 </em>(September 2007).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>R. F. Madole, J. H. Romig, J. N. Aleinikoff, D. P. VanSistine, and E. Y. Yacob, “<a href="https://www.nps.gov/grsa/learn/nature/upload/madole_geology_article-2.pdf">On the Origin and Age of the Great Sand Dunes, Colorado</a>,” <em>Geomorphology</em> 99 (October 2008).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Vincent Matthews: <em>Messages in Stone: Colorado’s Colorful Geology,</em> 2nd ed. (Denver: Colorado Geological Survey, 2009).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Jonathan L. White, Matthew L. Morgan, Karen A. Berry, “<a href="https://coloradogeologicalsurvey.org/publications/west-salt-creek-landslide-catastrophic-rockslide-avalanche-mesa-colorado/">The West Salt Creek Landslide: A Catastrophic Rockslide and Rock/Debris Avalanche in Mesa County, Colorado</a>,” <em>Colorado Geological Survey Bulletin</em> 55 (2015).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Andrew Alden, “<a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/geologic-maps-of-the-united-states-4122863">Colorado Geologic Map</a>,” About.com, updated March 27, 2016.</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Fri, 24 Jun 2016 20:26:50 +0000 yongli 1503 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org