Debris-flow and Flood Video Files, Chalk Cliffs, Colorado, USA, 2019
type: Dataset
description: Chalk Cliffs, located 8 miles southwest of Buena Vista, Colorado, is a natural laboratory for research on runoff-initiated debris flows (Coe et al., 2010). In 2019, there were two monitoring stations operating at Chalk Cliffs. The Upper Station drains an area of 0.06 km2 and was used to monitor flow properties and triggering conditions in the headwaters of the study area. It was equipped with two rain gauges, a laser distance meter to measure flow stage, two geophones to record ground vibrations, a force plate to measure the basal impact forces of the flow, and two downward looking video cameras to record flow characteristics (Kean et al., 2020). The Firehose Station is located on the perimeter of the study area at the base of the cliffs and was used to monitor the impacts of cascading water runoff during rainstorms on loose sediment at the cliff base. It was equipped with a rain gage and video camera to record flow characteristics. This data release includes videos of debris flows and floods captured in 2019 by the high-definition cameras at the Upper and Firehose stations in the Chalk Cliffs study area. The videos can be viewed in the individual ‘Child item’ pages accessible below. The ‘Child item’ pages contain either flood or debris flow video files for each camera described above. See figure “station_and_camera_locations.JPG” for the location of the cameras. The two cameras at the Upper Station are mounted in stereo approximately 92 cm apart and view the flow immediately upstream of a bridge cross section where flow stage, basal force, and one set of ground vibrations are measured. These observations aid in the interpretation of time series data at the cross section and help constrain flow velocity, sediment concentration, and particle grain size. The setup of the two cameras at the Upper Station can be seen in the attached image "Upper_station_setup.JPG". The camera at the Firehose Station is also used to constrain the sediment concentration of flows impacting…
keyword: amerigeo
keyword: amerigeoss
keyword: chalk-cliffs
keyword: ckan
keyword: colorado
keyword: debris-flow
keyword: flood
keyword: geo
keyword: geologic-hazards-science-center
keyword: geomorphology
keyword: geoss
keyword: hydrology
keyword: landslide-hazards-program
keyword: landslides
keyword: national
keyword: north-america
keyword: united-states
keyword: usgs
keyword: usgs-618c362ad34ec04fc9c8638d
keyword: video-monitoring
keyword: videos
issued: 2025-11-22T17:04:39.198894
modified: 20220622
theme: {geospatial}
contact point: Organization
  fn: Jason W Kean
spatial: Location

US Migrating
type: Agent

Original Metadata
type: Distribution
description: The metadata original format
media type: text/xml
format: XML
access URL: https://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/metadata/USGS.618c362ad34ec04fc9c8638d.xml
issued: 2022-08-06T17:28:23.982773
modified: 2025-11-22T17:04:39.186786

Digital Data
type: Distribution
description: Landing page for access to the data
media type: application/http
format: XML
access URL: https://doi.org/10.5066/P9752450
issued: 2022-08-06T17:28:23.982781
modified: 2025-11-22T17:04:39.187199