Next CoGO meeting January 31st (Thursday) in Denver

The next Colorado Geomorphology Organization (CoGO) meeting is on Thursday, January 31, 2013 in Denver. We will be meeting at 7:00 pm on the campus of the University of Colorado at Denver (Room #3617 in the North Classroom Building - see attached map for building and parking lot locations).

Francis Rengers will be the speaker for the evening. Mr. Rengers is a PhD student at the University of Colorado in Boulder. His main research focus is the evolution of disturbed landscapes, in particular wildfire areas and gullies. He will be giving a talk titled: Using Terrestrial LiDAR to Explore Post-Wildfire Erosion.

Abstract:
The Fourmile Canyon wildfire started on September 6, 2010 and was contained on September 13, 2010. During these few days it became one of the costliest fires in Colorado history, with $217 million in damages. This talk will focus on the post-wildfire erosional response following the Fourmile Canyon wildfire. The objective of our study was to understand the centimeter to meter scale spatial distribution of erosion on a hillslope following a wildfire. We wondered if there would be uniform erosion or distinct erosional patters, and how different hydrological events would influence erosion. Our study site is a hillslope plot in a zero-order basin that experienced a high-severity burn during the Fourmile Canyon wildfire. We used terrestrial LiDAR to collect centimeter scale topography of the field site between hydrologic events. This technique allows fine scale analysis of the spatial distribution of erosion. We found that erosion is typically concentrated in topographic swales, and that erosional response changes with hydrological forcing and the change in surface material following a wildfire.

We will be meeting prior to the talk for dinner at Euclid Hall (1317 14th St) in Denver at 5:30 pm. We will walk from the restaurant to the North Classroom building at UCD for the talk at 7pm. If you plan on coming for dinner, please let us know so we can make reservations [coloradogeomorph @ gmail.com].