ABSTRACT
Except for the headwaters of the Colorado River drainage system, the main part of the Upper Colorado River Basin is within the Colorado Plateau. The most recent and extensive reservoir of this region is Lake Powell formed behind Glen Canyon dam. Centrally located in the Colorado Plateau, its geology, physiography, climate, and vegetation are typical. Because of its recency and because of the research efforts to study its impact on a variety of shoreline features, Lake Powell is being used here as an example to illustrate some of the important researchable programs, results, and interactions of the physical and biological environment, and highlights of significant concerns relating to fluctuating water levels as they affect the aquaticterrestrial interface–the shoreline. The impact of man and the effect of the dynamic physical and biological processes occurring along the shoreline are discussed as exemplary of other reservoirs in the upper basin. The contrast of shorelines of the river above a reservoir, and mention of the transition from river to reservoir, and the distinct effects of the reservoir on the nature of the river below the dam are alluded to.
