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<br />BASIN D~SCRIPTION <br /> <br />Cherry Creek is a right-bank plains tributary of the South Platte River. <br /> <br />It enters the South Platte River in the highly developed business and industrial <br /> <br />area of downtown Denver. The basin dr~ins a 410-square-mile area located south <br /> <br />of Denver as shown on plate 1. Cherry Creek Dam and Reservoir is located about <br /> <br />11.4 miles upstream from the mouth of Cherry Creek and controls 385 square miles <br /> <br />of the basin's drainage area. The length of the basin is about 57 miles and the <br /> <br />average width is about 11 miles. <br /> <br />The Cherry Creek basin upstream from Franktown has steep to moderate rolling <br /> <br />topography with ponderosa pine growing on the higher ridges, Occasional <br /> <br />steep-sided buttes and mesas occur in this area. Stream valleys are narrow with <br /> <br /> <br />sloping sides. A narrow belt across the central part of the basin, immediately <br /> <br /> <br />upstream from Franktown, is characterized by sharp topographic relief. Canyon <br /> <br />walls and mesa fronts, 200 to 400 feet high, are common in this belt. Cherry <br /> <br />Creek and some of its tributaries have cut narrow canyons through this belt. In <br /> <br />the reach from near Franktown to near Parker, Cherry Creek courses through a <br /> <br />broad valley bordered by steep to rolling ridges and hills. Downstream from <br /> <br />Parker, the upland area consists of rolling plains. <br /> <br />The basin slopes northward from elevations of about 7700 feet above mean sea <br /> <br /> <br />level (feet m.s,l.) at the source of Cherry Creek to about 5170 feet m.s,l, at <br /> <br /> <br />its confluence with the South Platte River. The slope of the stream varies from <br /> <br /> <br />about 100 feet per mile in the headwaters area to about 25 feet per mile in the <br /> <br /> <br />lower reaches of the stream. <br /> <br />The geological structure of the basin consists of strata of upper Cretaceous <br /> <br />age or younger, generally having a very gentle dip in a northeasterly direction <br /> <br />away from the mountains. The Castle Rock conglomerate and volcanic rocks cap the <br /> <br /> <br />mesas and buttes in the rugged belt across the central basin. The bedrock of the <br /> <br /> <br />remainder of the basin is primarily sandstones and shales. <br /> <br />6 <br />