Keyword: geology

Soils [Chapter 5]

This report describes the soils of the Lost Lake, West Glacier Lake, and East Glacier Lake watersheds of GLEES and presents the methods used in conducting both the field and laboratory work. In addition, general statements about the nature of the mapping units used in making the soil maps are provided.

Meteorology [Chapter 7]

GLEES is contained within the Snowy Range Observatory. This Observatory consists of many weather stations, precipitation monitors, and stream gages scattered throughout the Snowy Range. These sites have been operated by the Wyoming Water Research Center (WWRC) since 1968. Data from the sites are available from the WWRC and were last summarized by Wesche (1982).

Introduction [Chapter 1]

Wilderness ecosystems in the United States are federally mandated and set aside by the Wilderness Act. They are managed to minimize human impact using methods that leave these systems, to the extent possible, in their natural state uninfluenced by manipulation or disruption by humans.

Hydrology [Chapter 9]

Three Parshall flumes were installed within East and West Glacier Lakes watersheds during the summer of 1987. Each Parshall flume was prefabricated fiberglass construction fitted with a hypolon liner to bring as much groundwater flow as possible to the surface so that it could be measured by passing the water through the flume.

Aquatics [Chapter 6]

Within the GLEES boundary there are three alpine lakes and several streams and ponds. The selection of GLEES as a research site for investigating of the effects of chemical and physical climate change was in part based on the accessibility of these low alkalinity "sensitive" aquatic ecosystems. This chapter provides a brief description of the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the GLEES aquatic ecosystems.

Appendix D: The Map Units for GLEES Soil Survey Area

The soils map of GLEES watersheds is shown in chap. 5, fig. 5.1 and the map units are described in this Appendix.

The Glacier Lakes Ecosystem Experiments Site

The Glacier Lakes Ecosystem Experiment Site (GLEES), a 600 ha research watershed at 3200-3400 m elevation in the Snowy Range of SE Wyoming, has been established to examine the effects of atmospheric deposition on alpine and subalpine ecosystems. This document provides preliminary data on the landscape habitats, floristics, geology, soils, aquatics, atmospheric environment, hydrology, snow, and air quality conditions occurring at GLEES.

Snow [Chapter 10]

Generally, the annual snowpack at GLEES is established in November and lasts into July. Figure 10.1 is the 1987-91 recession curve of the snow-covered area fraction versus degree days. About 20% of the area consists of rocks, which are usually blown clear of snow, and trees. The trees may hide some of the snow in the aerial photographs that were used to develop the curve.

Landscape habitats [Chapter 2]

This landscape habitat description is based on a ground reconnaissance of the Lost Lake, West Glacier Lake, and East Glacier Lake portions of GLEES conducted during 10 days in July-September 1986 and on subsequent photo interpretation of 1:6000 scale color-infrared photographs. A ground check was conducted in July-August 1987. The classification used is a physiognomic classification of vegetation/landscape types in the study area.

Geology [Chapter 4]

The Medicine Bow Mountains have a core of Precambrian rocks. They contain the boundary, the Cheyenne Belt, between the Wyoming Province to the NW and the accreted Proterozoic continental crust to the SE (Karlstrom and Houston 1984). The Wyoming Province consists of Archean rocks that are locally intruded and (or) overlain by rocks of Proterozoic age, including the lithologies present in the West Glacier Lake drainage basin.