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<br />Approach <br /> <br />McCain and Ebling (1979) outlined a comprehensive plan for the collection and <br />analysis of flood data for selected streams in the foothills regions of Colorado. <br />Based on this earl ier work, the study of foothills region flood hydrology is being <br />conducted. In the first phase of the study, a peak-flow data base was established <br />and is presented in this report. Flow characteristics were compiled for 69 streams <br />in the South Platte River, the Arkansas River, and the Colorado River basins. The <br />major river basins of Colorado are shown in figure 1. Gage-height charts, weather <br />records, and indirect discharge measurements were examined, and peak-flow events <br />were identified as originating from either snowmelt runoff or rainfall runoff. <br /> <br />Personnel from the Colorado District analyzed rainfall-runoff and snowmelt- <br />runoff data bases and also used other techniques of investigations. Topics includ- <br />ed in these analyses and techniques of investigations were: (1) Flood-frequency <br />analysis of rainfall-runoff and snowmelt-runoff data; (2) Methods for at-a-site <br />integration of snowmelt and rainfall flood-frequency curves; (3) Coordination of <br />mixed-population flood-frequency analysis with investigations of geomorphic, <br />stratigraphic, botanic, and paleohydraulic techniques; and (4) Definition of areas <br />dominated by either snowmelt-runoff or rainfall-runoff peak flows. This study will <br />provide the means to identify the needs and amount of additional data collection <br />for foothills streams in Colorado. <br /> <br />Although foothill-type streams occur adjacent to all mountainous areas in <br />Colorado, severe floods produced by rainfall appear to be extremely rare for <br />streams in the basins of the North Platte River and the Rio Grande (McCain and <br />Ebling, 1979). For this reason, streams in these two basins were not included in <br />the study. The data presented in this report include snowmelt- and rainfall- <br />produced peak flows from 27 streamflow-gaging stations in the South Platte River <br />basin, 13 in the Arkansas River basin, and 29 in the Colorado River basin, shown <br />in figures 2, 3, and 4, respectively. <br /> <br />Acknowledgments <br /> <br />The authors are grateful to Glenn Brees, Colorado Department of Natural Re- <br />sources, Division of Water Resources, Office of the State Engineer, for providing <br />records of State-operated streamflow-gaging stations. Assistance in data compila- <br />tion and interpretation was provided by Eugene J. Van Camp and Will iam P. Stanton <br />I I I, Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Colorado Water Conservation Board, <br />and Richard A. Herbert, U.S. Bureau of Land Management. <br /> <br />STATION SELECTION <br /> <br />Peak-flow data presented in this study were collected at streamflow-gaging <br />stations in Colorado by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating agencies. The <br />following criteria were established for the selection of the streamflow-gaging <br />stations to be studied. <br /> <br />2 <br />