Final blog

     Castlewood Canyon was created by a long history of volcanic eruptions, and a stream that once carried a large bedload from the weathering Rocky Mountains. The canyon has seen many different climate changes, from wet tropical conditions into warming and cooling phases including the Ice Age that the Earth is still a part of today.

     1000 years from now, Castlewood Canyon will not look different.  Frost weathering that cracks and breaks off large pieces of conglomerate will create more talus and more obstacles for Cherry Creek. The creek bed will have widened and in areas on either side of the canyon, it will be meandering due to point bars, where the water flow deposits sediment, and cut banks, where the water runs deepest and creates a new path.  If snowmelt in the Rockies is low, the perennial stream will seem more like an intermittent stream as it will flood during summer storms and flow very little otherwise.

(photo belongs to me)

     In 10,000 years, the climate will have warmed a little more.Vegetation around the canyon will be limited to plants that can handle an extremely arid environment. I believe the plains of Colorado are experiencing desertification that will dry up the landscape, push out some native species and similarly invite other, more tolerable species.

     When precipitation does occur, it will have extreme effects on slopes above the creek bed. Translational sliding will send whole sections of the slope into the creek bed as the soil becomes separated and breaks. Some areas will see rotational slumps where water (snow or rain) is too heavy for the land. The V shaped valley will be flattening and creating pediment.



    The overland flow will deposit the canyon's sediment on the plains. The material may increase the sediment load and possibly become a braided stream.

     1,000,000 years from now, volcanic eruptions, extreme heating, and extreme cooling will have occurred. If there is another large volcanic eruption near by, it will disrupt the ecology and physical structure of the canyon, rebuilding it with newer rock material. If the deposited material carried downstream or colluvium built up from the down weathering slopes becomes thick and unable to transport, it will block the flow of water back through the canyon and into the plain that lies to the south.

(courtesy http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/geolcolbk/aridevolution.htm)

     The Rocky Mountains will have eroded much more through mass wasting that will deposit downstream much like it has in the past. The canyon, though flattened, will be dotted with boulders much like it is now.

(photo belongs to me)

     Undercutting will be evident as groundwater seeps out of the canyon walls and the salt content erodes the bottoms of rock structures.

     Overall, I predict a warming trend for Castlewood Canyon. It will begin to lose vegetation and continue to erode at a faster rate than it will weather. It may move into another Ice Age and experience glacial weathering but more often it will be a dry, arid climate.






Sources:
http://www.dmns.org/main/minisites/ancientdenvers/formations.html
(courtesy http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/geolcolbk/aridevolution.htm)