The central part of the Front Range mineral belt, Colorado, is a Precambrian crystalline basement terrain intruded by early Tertiary porphyries and closely associated mesothermal ore deposits. The ore deposits are gold- and silver-bearing base metal sulphide-quartz veins arranged in more or less well developed concentric mineral zones centred on concealed porphyry plutons. Central areas of pyritic mineralisation are surrounded by peripheral zone of galena-sphalerite-bearing veins, often separated by a transitional zone of composite mineralisation. Molybdenite-bearing and uraninite-bearing veins are locally abundant proximal to the central pyritic zones and are closely associated spatially and temporally with highly evolved quartz bostonite intrusions. The mineral veins are enveloped in narrow selvages of sericitized and argillized wallrock and are entirely fracture controlled. A low density lithogeochemical survey of the country rocks revealed strong lithological controls on the distributions of selected trace elements and radiation emission values. Positive Rb/Sr anomalies are tentatively linked to concealed intrusions, and corresponding positive anomalies of Pb, Zn, Mo and W are associated with known molybdenite mineralisation. Sericitized rocks are characterised by low Sr and enhanced Rb, Zn, Pb, Mo and Ag values, and areas of depleted country rock Sr values may be related to vein wallrock alteration. D/H and <SUP>18</SUP> O/<SUP>16</SUP> O signatures of fresh country rocks indicate variable magmatic water overprinting and similar analyses of sericitised rocks show that alteration was accomplished by magmatic hydrothermal fluids at 340<SUP>o</SUP> -515<SUP>o</SUP> C. Mineralisation and alteration in the area were caused by hydrothermal fluids evolved from highly differentiated Laramide quartz bostonite intrusions. K-Ar ages of ca. 62 Ma have been obtained from alteration sericites from the peripheral mineral zone. Similar studies in the central pyritic zone have yielded ages of ca. 59 Ma suggesting the existence of long lived hydrothermal activity in the area characterised by widespread high-temperature alteration, followed by thermal decay and collapse towards core zones. The ore deposits investigated during this study display numerous features in common with porphyry-style and other intrusive-related mineralisation characteristic of Cordilleran terrains, but also exhibit significant differences. The combination of these features contribute to the distinct and possibly unique character of these mineral deposits.

The early Laramide tectonic history and Proterozoic metamorphic history of the northeastern Colorado Front Range were examined using kinematic data from minor faults at 25 locations, and U-Th/He dating of apatite from 2 samples (3 unsuccessful) supported by optical petrography, X-ray maps and geothermometry. The role of strike-slip faulting in Laramide uplift of the eastern flank of the northern Front Range was analyzed through kinematic analysis of 97 minor (<100 m trace) faults. The dominant fault population was oriented approximately perpendicular to bedding, with lineations sub-parallel to bedding. Rotating bedding to horizontal showed these faults to have the pattern of a strike-slip conjugate set. Unfolded left-lateral faults have an average orientation of (287, 87N) with lineations to (287, 01); right-lateral faults have an orientation of (065, 88S) with lineations to (245, 00). The timing of motion on these faults postdates 98 Ma deposition of Dakota group sandstones, and predates the folds that rotated them (68 Ma from the age of synorogenic conglomerates). The conclusion is that strike-slip motion was active during the earliest Laramide. The principal strain axes from these faults, after rotation, give an average shortening axis orientation of (276, 03) and an average extension direction of (006, 02). The calculated shortening axis orientation is consistent with that of later Laramide deformation, supporting the hypothesis that strike-slip deformation occurred in the northeast Front Range during the earliest Laramide. Analysis of minor faults on part of the eastern flank of the northern Front Range shows that strike-slip faulting was a locally important deformation mechanism at the onset of the Laramide orogeny. Principal strain axis analysis suggests that the regional tectonic regime was one of east-west shortening and north-south extension prior to the onset of the main phase of Laramide deformation, at which time the regional strain field rotated to one of east-west shortening and vertical extension. Twenty-seven thin-sections of Big Thompson Canyon metapelites were petrologically characterized prior to selection for mineral separation and U-Th/He analysis of apatite. All samples show late high-temperature static recrystallization that has partially recovered prior fabrics. At high grades, sillimanite porphyroblasts overgrow all fabrics. X-ray maps and geothermometry were also conducted to enhance the characterization of the sample suite. Garnet-biotite phase equilibria indicate that initial prograde metamorphism took place at approximately 550 °C. Apatites separated from five of the twenty-seven samples analyzed in thin section were analyzed for U-Th/He thermochronometry. Three samples returned no plausible results; one sample returned one plausible age; and one sample returned three similar and plausible ages. Basement rocks cooled through the closure temperatures for helium and fission-tracks in apatite nearly simultaneously, at about 55 Ma. These temperatures, 40 and 60 °C respectively, correspond to depths of ~ 1.5 and 2.5 km. Laramide exhumation of the Northern Front Range was very rapid. Estimates of minimum magnitude of exhumation during Laramide time may need to be increased from ~2 km to ~3 km. / text

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Erosion beveled the Laramide Front Range uplift in Colorado to a surface of low relief by the end of the Eocene. This study uses paleobotanic climate analysis techniques to determine the paleoelevation of this regional surface by examining the overlying 34.9 Ma Florissant flora. Multiple regression models explaining 93.4% of the variance in mean annual temperature (MAT), 86.1% of the variance in growing season precipitation (GSP) and 65.7% of the variance in rainfall distribution were derived from J. A. Wolfe's dataset of 31 leaf physiognomic character states from 86 modern vegetation sites. When applied to a new collection of 29 species from the Florissant flora, estimates of MAT = 10.7 ± 1.5°C, and GSP = 55.6 ± 12.5 cm, with precipitation occurring mostly during the growing season, are derived. This paleoclimate estimate is corroborated by data from late Eocene Sequoia affinis from Florissant. Higher mean ring width of the fossil trees as compared to modern counterparts can be explained by a climate with summer mean monthly temperatures ≥ 14°C and summer mean monthly rainfall >1.5 cm. The estimated MAT, when combined with coeval sea level MAT and terrestrial lapse rate, implies an elevation of 2.3-3.3 km for Florissant, which is indistinguishable from the modern elevation of 2.5 km. The elevation of Florissant is tied to that of the Great Plains by the Wall Mountain Tuff, so the Great Plains were also high. The elevation was created either by underplating and/or mass transfer in the Laramide, or by mantle uplift of crust thickened by pre-Laramide tectonics. This elevation estimate implies that: (1) Pliocene uplift is not required to explain the present elevation. Thus, late Tertiary plateau uplift in the western US was not a contributing factor to the marked global cooling since 15 Ma; and (2) in the late Eocene, regional surfaces of planation could be formed at elevations significantly above sea level but below tree line. The surface was possibly formed from a lack of storminess; a preponderance of small storm events will diffusively smooth topography.

More than 1100 debris flows were mobilized from shallow landslides during a rainstorm from 9 to 13 September 2013 in the Colorado Front Range, with the vast majority initiating on sparsely vegetated, south facing terrain. To investigate the physical processes responsible for the observed aspect control, we made measurements of soil properties on a densely forested north facing hillslope and a grassland-dominated south facing hillslope in the Colorado Front Range and performed numerical modeling of transient changes in soil pore water pressure throughout the rainstorm. Using the numerical model, we quantitatively assessed interactions among vegetation, rainfall interception, subsurface hydrology, and slope stability. Results suggest that apparent cohesion supplied by roots was responsible for the observed connection between debris flow initiation and slope aspect. Results suggest that future climate-driven modifications to forest structure could substantially influence landslide hazards throughout the Front Range and similar water-limited environments where vegetation communities may be more susceptible to small variations in climate.