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GIS data and scripts for Colorado Legacy Mine Lands Watershed Delineation and Scoring tool (WaDeS)

Metadata Updated: December 11, 2025

This data release includes GIS datasets supporting the Colorado Legacy Mine Lands Watershed Delineation and Scoring tool (WaDeS), a web mapping application available at https://geonarrative.usgs.gov/colmlwades/. Water chemistry data were compiled from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Information System (NWIS), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) STORET database, and the USGS Central Colorado Assessment Project (CCAP) (Church and others, 2009). The CCAP study area was used for this application. Samples were summarized at each monitoring station and hardness-dependent chronic and acute toxicity thresholds for aquatic life protections under Colorado Regulation No. 31 (CDPHE, 5 CCR 1002-31) for cadmium, copper, lead, and/or zinc were calculated. Samples were scored according to how metal concentrations compared with acute and chronic toxicity thresholds. The results were used in combination with remote sensing derived hydrothermal alteration (Rockwell and Bonham, 2017) and mine-related features (Horton and San Juan, 2016) to identify potential mine remediation sites within the headwaters of the central Colorado mineral belt. Headwaters were defined by watersheds delineated from a 10-meter digital elevation dataset (DEM), ranging in 5-35 square kilometers in size. Python and R scripts used to derive these products are included with this data release as documentation of the processing steps and to enable users to adapt the methods for their own applications. References Church, S.E., San Juan, C.A., Fey, D.L., Schmidt, T.S., Klein, T.L. DeWitt, E.H., Wanty, R.B., Verplanck, P.L., Mitchell, K.A., Adams, M.G., Choate, L.M., Todorov, T.I., Rockwell, B.W., McEachron, Luke, and Anthony, M.W., 2012, Geospatial database for regional environmental assessment of central Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 614, 76 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ds614. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), Water Quality Control Commission 5 CCR 1002-31. Regulation No. 31 The Basic Standards and Methodologies for Surface Water. Effective 12/31/2021, accessed on July 28, 2023 at https://cdphe.colorado.gov/water-quality-control-commission-regulations. Horton, J.D., and San Juan, C.A., 2022, Prospect- and mine-related features from U.S. Geological Survey 7.5- and 15-minute topographic quadrangle maps of the United States (ver. 8.0, September 2022): U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F78W3CHG. Rockwell, B.W. and Bonham, L.C., 2017, Digital maps of hydrothermal alteration type, key mineral groups, and green vegetation of the western United States derived from automated analysis of ASTER satellite data: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F7CR5RK7.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date December 11, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date December 11, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-636c25bad34ed907bf6abb73
Data Last Modified 2023-09-12T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 184d77db-ed0b-4509-b65e-4ff3bc7f088c
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 87cbbd3aa9b59946ba916ba0aba40261b7b8498648594ea6a182bd01fd17ae0a
Source Schema Version 1.1

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