{"id":3765,"date":"2009-10-01T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-10-01T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/shale-barrens\/"},"modified":"2021-06-09T14:55:36","modified_gmt":"2021-06-09T14:55:36","slug":"shale-barrens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/2009\/10\/01\/shale-barrens\/","title":{"rendered":"Shale Barrens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From Ca\u00f1on City in southeastern Colorado to the Kansas and New Mexico borders lies an area of marine rocks dating back to the Cretaceous, exposed by the inexorable erosional processes of the Arkansas River.  These exposed shales and soft limestones (chalk) form outcrops of an interesting and important habitat type \u2013 shale barrens.<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear: both;text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7119\" src=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/shale-barren1.jpg\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" alt=\"Shale barrens with juniper\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/shale-barren1.jpg 320w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/shale-barren1-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small\">Shale barrens aren&#8217;t really barren, but no one would<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: x-small\">call them lush with vegetation, either.<br \/>\nPhoto by Ren\u00e9e Rondeau <\/span>\n<\/div>\n<p>\nCNHP ecologist Ren\u00e9e Rondeau has been documenting these habitats in Las Animas, Pueblo, and Huerfano Counties this past summer.  These habitats are extremely vulnerable to surface disturbance such as mining, quarrying, and other activities that lead to changes in soil structure or vegetation structure.<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear: both;text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7120\" src=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/shale-barren2.jpg\" width=\"320\" height=\"246\" alt=\"Shale barrens in SE CO\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/shale-barren2.jpg 320w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/shale-barren2-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small\">Shale barren outcrops rising out of the prairie.<br \/>\nPhoto by Ren\u00e9e Rondeau<\/span><span style=\"font-size: x-small\"> <br \/>\n<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<p>\nThe area between Pueblo and Ca\u00f1on City contains the highest frequency of such shale barrens in southeastern Colorado. Forming low hills above the surrounding shortgrass prairie, the barrens typically have a high percentage of open, rocky ground and sporadic vegetation. Some occurrences have an overstory of sparse juniper and\/or pinyon pine, and may include scattered larger shrubs and bunchgrasses. Shale substrates often form a rocky \u201cpavement\u201d between plants.<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear: both;text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7121\" src=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/shale-barren-closeup.jpg\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" alt=\"little bluestem in shaley soil\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/shale-barren-closeup.jpg 320w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/shale-barren-closeup-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small\">Clumps of little bluestem scattered through shalely soils.<br \/>\nPhoto by Ren\u00e9e Rondeau<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<p>\nA number of Colorado\u2019s rare plant species are found on shale barrens, especially on substrates formed from the Smoky Hills Member of the Niobrara Formation. Some may also occur on the Fort Hayes member of the Niobrara, or occasionally on substrates derived from adjacent Cretaceous formations such as the Carlile Shale, Greenhorn Limestone, and Graneros Shale.<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear: both;text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7122\" src=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/Shale_Map.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/Shale_Map.jpg 400w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/Shale_Map-300x250.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small\">Geology lesson: The Niobrara Formation (yellow) and Carlile Shale,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: x-small\">Greenhorn Limestone,  and Graneros Shale formations (brown) in southeast Colorado.<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: left\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small\"><span style=\"font-size: small\">For more information, read CNHP&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/projects\/\">shale barrens ecological system description<\/a> (PDF).&nbsp; Other ecological system descriptions are <a href=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/projects\/\">available on our website<\/a>.<\/span> <br \/>\n<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From Ca\u00f1on City in southeastern Colorado to the Kansas and New Mexico borders lies an area of marine [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7119,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ecology","category-reports-and-publications","entry","override"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}