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<br />Preface <br /> <br />Thi.<; spt."ciJl i~sul:' of tbe .l/oIl1llain Geologist explores the distribution, geology, ::Ind leg;ll <br />fr:.lmework of the Ix'drock aquifers in the lknvc..'r Basin. As summarizl..o.U by Topper. these <br />aquifers occur in sedimentary rocks r.mging from the Fox Hills Sandstone up through lhe <br />Denvt."r fonnation, str,Ha deposited in settings that v:uicd from shallow-water marine <br />through fluvial. Ground"':ncr (KCUfS within pon: :-pact:s in these rocks. and the distribution <br />of porosil}' and permeability fencers the slr:uigraphic ch3rJ.l1eristlcs of (he environmenL'> of <br />depmition: hence, aquifer charactt'rization is a geologk" challl.:nge. <br />This issue gathers Ihre3ds of ongoing rest:'arc-h 10 add to our current knowledge base <br />pertaining to thl;'sc :..Iquifns. As pointed out by I\ovotny and Sanford, much of the water <br />consumed in Douglas County is O\-er jO,OOO years old. This vintagt' \v:Uer is administered <br />hy ::J. wcll-\H)fIl system :lS de....cribed by Graham :lnd V:lnSlyke. Studies of venical permeabil- <br />ity reponed by Barkmann ~t'IYe to emplusize that very significant barriers 10 fluid-flow are <br />common in rhe Basin and the aquifers are bolh layered and comp:mmcnlalized. Aquifer <br />studies such as those by I\iltlesnn and Ra)'nolds dd"il1t;' the containers or rcsern)irs, while <br />innovati\-e drilling tt'chniqw:s such as those reponed by )ehn-Ddlaron may be used to <br />accelerate shon-term W,Ut'r production rates. <br />Colorado ..,pans It'rritOlY referred to as rhe Great AmericlO Desell: only by dim of our <br />engineering skills h:lvi..' we moved water .ICros..., mountains and slored spring snow-melt so <br />as to he able 10 waleI' OLlr crops and slake the thirst of our citie.s. Over HOOk of sllrface <br />\\'ater is used for irrigah..'d 3J~ricllItUf31 production in rural Colorado. In the urbanizing Den- <br />vcr Ba.sin. groundwater is a finite rt..SOUKe and Wt' are depleting ollr reseroes. Nonetheless, <br />availability of powble water may not LX' a si~nificant near-term constraint on population <br />growlh in the rl'Cllll R~lI1,gt' ;lre<l of Colorado. ;~s we \vill simply ,,1I(Kate more funds to redi- <br />ft,;'(1 awicuhural wak'r 10 our urhan and suburhan neeus. <br />As the Front Range de\"t~lops the waler-transfer :lnd stor.tgt.' facilities to redi...trihute SUf- <br />f;lce wat...r rcsources, Ihe geologic community will lx' called uron to providc a '-'It.'ner <br />unck.'rstandin,g of aquifer char:l('teri...tics so as 10 improve predicti\'e models of aquifer per~ <br />formance, [ncrc:ls...d demand for watef injection and storage wilhin aquifers will require an <br />impnwnlunderslanding of suhsurf:lt'e rock distrihution and fluid l10w pallerns. The [t\tAG <br />community is espt:dally qualilk.d 10 lake ;\ proac1i\'e role in helping to interpret :lnd con- <br />H')' Ihe:-.e complex aquifer i_"slles to the public. <br /> <br />Boh Raynold.s <br />~lichcle Reynolds, <br />Guest Editors <br /> <br />1"11... H",..k~' '-Iounl,,,n .-h<,<x"n"," ,,! t,.'ol"J<"r- <br /> <br />\-j <br />