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Articles 1 - 10 of 10
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Rock Glacier Development In The San Juan Mountains, Brandon K. Bailey
Rock Glacier Development In The San Juan Mountains, Brandon K. Bailey
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Rock glaciers are common landform features found in deglaciated alpine areas. They are commonly used in the study of climatic changes throughout the Holocene and the reconstruction of neoglacial chronologies. For this research, Schmidt hammer rebound values, weathering rind thicknesses, and the length of lichen thalli diameters found on rock glacier surfaces are used to investigate their effectiveness as field-based relative age determination techniques. Additionally, the ability to identify periods of neoglacial activity using these methods is assessed in two neighboring cirque basins in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. 41 field sites across three rock glaciers are established with …
Spatial And Temporal Controls On Streamflow Variability In The San Juan Mountains, Colorado, Christopher Lewis Hancock
Spatial And Temporal Controls On Streamflow Variability In The San Juan Mountains, Colorado, Christopher Lewis Hancock
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This project characterizes and examines changes to the annual hydroclimatic cycle throughout alpine regions of Colorado with a focus on trends in snowpack and snowmelt hydrology. Datasets analyzed for this research include 79 SNOTEL sites throughout Colorado (24 in the San Juan Mountains) which provide climate metrics for Water Years 1988-2018. Impacts on streamflow are evaluated in the San Juan Region through a network of 11 USGS stream gauges. Correlation matrices and linear regression methods examine the relative controls on the magnitude and timing of discharge, and trend detection using the regional Kendall test quantifies the rate of change within …
Corporate-Community Mining Conflicts In Guatemala: Unsettling Hegemonic Power Relations In Environmental Struggles, Anna Guðbjört Sveinsdóttir
Corporate-Community Mining Conflicts In Guatemala: Unsettling Hegemonic Power Relations In Environmental Struggles, Anna Guðbjört Sveinsdóttir
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation analyzes corporate-community conflicts around extractive industries in Guatemala with the purpose of better understanding how environmental struggles emerge and take shape. The study uses environmental governance as a framework to analyze the processes, institutions, actors and discourses that shape the conditions of possibility of political action and mobilization in environmental struggles. The dissertation argues that to understand the conditions of possibility of political action and mobilization in environmental struggles we must study the interplay between political actions 'from above' and 'from below', which are seen as dialectically interrelated, with dynamic and contested interactions between actors within and between …
Pedestrian Mobility In Denver: A Mixed Methods Approach, Meghan Elizabeth Mooney
Pedestrian Mobility In Denver: A Mixed Methods Approach, Meghan Elizabeth Mooney
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This research is rooted in the bigger issues of climate change, urban sustainability, and the drive to make Denver more pedestrian centered despite sprawled conditions. More specifically, this research is driven by (1) the need for a holistic, multi-dimensional, and mixed geographic perspective of pedestrian mobility, (2) the lack of qualitative data regarding pedestrian mobility and (3) a need for a better understanding of the feedback between physical and perceived space and how this influences walking behavior. Given these motivations, I deploy a multidimensional framework for assessing pedestrian mobility in Denver’s Transit Oriented Development (TOD) sites, whereby there are two …
Examining The Spatial Aspects Of Residential Energy Efficiency: Gis And Survey Analysis In Boulder County, Colorado, Walter Stanley Scheib
Examining The Spatial Aspects Of Residential Energy Efficiency: Gis And Survey Analysis In Boulder County, Colorado, Walter Stanley Scheib
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The completion of residential energy efficiency upgrades leads to multifaceted benefits including cost and energy savings, increased household comfort, health benefits, and reduced CO2 emissions. As a result of these benefits, state and local energy efficiency programs across the United States are striving to increase the widespread adoption of energy efficiency upgrades by homeowners. Many program strategies for widespread adoption are informed by case studies of other successful energy efficiency programs. These program strategies would benefit from the additional insight provided by spatial analysis, but a spatial perspective is currently underutilized by energy efficiency programs across the United States. This …
Quantifying Human Impacts On River Bar Morphology Using Digital Photogrammetry, Aaron Zettler-Mann
Quantifying Human Impacts On River Bar Morphology Using Digital Photogrammetry, Aaron Zettler-Mann
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Historically, the study of fluvial geomorphology has been dominated by the field method of surveying using a level and surveying rod. Beginning in the 1980s, the use of ground based and aerial LiDAR increased in popularity as a surveying method. However, LIDAR is expensive and requires significant training to operate. In recent years there has been an increase in the applicability of digital photogrammetry in the field of fluvial geomorphology. Lower costs, streamlined training and an increased accuracy all make digital photogrammetry a promising tool for the field geomorphologist. A study of the morphologic changes of four river bars on …
A Paleoenvironmental Investigation Of Eolian Influx In Lacustrine Sediments Of The Southern Rocky Mountain Region, Rebecca L. Brice
A Paleoenvironmental Investigation Of Eolian Influx In Lacustrine Sediments Of The Southern Rocky Mountain Region, Rebecca L. Brice
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Potential indications of long-term trends in paleoclimate, specifically winds, in the Southern Rocky Mountain region of the United States were tested using lacustrine sediment from South Blue Lake in the Wet Mountains of Colorado. This study builds upon existing eolian and lacustrine research, and investigates paleowind in a location not yet studied in this manner. Variability in sediment laminae, particle size, and mineralogy show similar patterns during the mid-Holocene warm period (ca. 5500 cal. yr BP - ca. 6000 cal. yr BP). These patterns indicate a warmer, drier, windier period that is contrasted by a less variable period in the …
Fresh Squeezed: The Dilemma Of Local Food Production Along Colorado's Front Range Urban Corridor, Amanda Jessie Weaver
Fresh Squeezed: The Dilemma Of Local Food Production Along Colorado's Front Range Urban Corridor, Amanda Jessie Weaver
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Today, the Front Range Urban Corridor of Colorado is one example from the urban/agricultural battlefield. The history of food production and urbanization in this area is similar to many regions throughout the western United States. Originally an extraction based economy, Colorado later became agriculturally/pastorally based, and more recently became a service-based, urban economy. On the Front Range Urban Corridor specifically, the urban core of Denver and Boulder developed with rich agricultural lands toward the northeast to Weld County along the northern border of the state. Though a semi-arid region, this agricultural zone produces a volume and variety of food-based crops …
Colorado's Large Snow Events' Impact On Tree Ring Growth And Dillon Reservoir, Katrina Leona Marzetta
Colorado's Large Snow Events' Impact On Tree Ring Growth And Dillon Reservoir, Katrina Leona Marzetta
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Meteorological observations from 1894 through 2010 suggest that 17 historically large snow events occurred in the mountains of Colorado within Denver's water supply region. Of these 16 events, 14 can be identified in precipitation sensitive tree ring records as positive climatic pointer years. If these storms were to occur today, they would have the potential to fill reservoirs in Denver Water's supply system, even after years of sustained drought. These "drought busters" have the potential to refill Dillon Reservoir by increasing average yearly inflow up to 146% of the previous year's inflow. Such drought busters can help Denver recover from …
Emergent Geographies In Green Energy, Sean Tierney
Emergent Geographies In Green Energy, Sean Tierney
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
A consensus on climate change is spurring an energy transition, but the geography of this transition is uneven and this paper evaluates the energy landscape globally, in the United States and in Colorado. Developed countries have taken the lead in installations and of next generation energy technology ownership. Green electricity has still not achieved parity with fossil fuels, which puts their adoption in the hands of policy makers who are trying to spur innovation with minimal financial disruption. Yet the future of green electricity is in question due to weak and fragmented policy regimes, but also because of inadequate R&D …