SNOWPACK INFLUENCES ON GEOMORPHIC PROCESSES IN GREEN LAKES VALLEY, COLORADO FRONT RANGE

In the alpine catchment of Green Lakes Valley, the great variability in snow distribution is an important influence on environmental conditions. The snow cover has relatively little direct effect on geomorphic processes: avalanches of wet snow in Spring transport small volumes of debris to the valley floor and boulders are shifted locally in small sub-nival pavements. Indirectly, the influence of snow patterns on erosion is much greater. By changing the surface topography, it facilitates sediment transport across the tundra; through its control of hydrologic responses, its meltwater mediates sediment and solute movement; and by controlling the biota, it defines the source areas from which most sediments and solutes are derived.