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At least 1,783 records · Page 99Linked to original sources
USGS1973

Electric-analog simulation network of unconsolidated aquifers in the upper Wabash River basin, Indiana

The ground-water budget of the unconsolidated deposits in the upper Wabash River basin was modeled. An electrical-simulation network was used to determine an integrated storage coefficient of 0.003 for the basin. Two practical problems were investigated: a municipal pumping problem and the change in flow regime due to the addition of surface-water reservoirs to the basin. Because these are demonstration exercises, the information presented is not intended to be used for construction justification. The network is available and can be used to determine the effect on basin hydrology due to local development of the ground-water resource.

Indiana↗
USGS1973

Effects of Urbanization on Floods in the Houston, Texas Metropolitan Area

Rainfall and runoff data from drainage basins in the Houston metropolitan area and a 60-year rainfall record for the National Weather Service station, Houston-City, were used to simulate 60 annual flood peaks at 26 sites. Selected frequency characteristics, based on these simulated annual peaks, are related to drainage area and percentage of impervious area. These relations, which may be used to estimate the flood characteristics at ungaged sites, indicate that in the Houston metropolitan area, complete urbanization increases the magnitude of a 2-year flood nine times and increases the magnitude of a 50-year flood five times.

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1973

An evaluation of water-quality data obtained at four streamflow daily-record stations in Idaho

Chemical data for four stream-gaging stations in Idaho, each having 6 to 22 years of available records, were analyzed to determine functional relations between concentrations of the major inorganic constituents, specific conductance, and stream discharge. Three of the four stations had sufficient available record for assessing changes in constituent relations with time. The records for each long-term station were subdivided into segments of approximately 5 years each. Plots and regression equations were derived for each record segment to show the relations of each major constituent value to levels of specific conductance and stream discharge. At only one stations, Boise River at Notus, was there was an apparent significant change in chemical characteristics with time. Between 1940 and 1951, the percentages of chloride and sulfate in solution at this station declined appreciably and were largely replaced by bicarbonate. In general, there were highly significant correlations between the major inorganic ions and specific conductance, although those observed at Bear River at Border were distinctly poorer than those observed for the other stations. Corresponding correlations between the major ions and discharge were almost always less significant than those observed between the same ions and specific conductance. The common ion-discharge relations observed on the Snake River near Heise were more highly correlated before 1957 than thereafter--probably because of changes induced by the construction of Palisades Dam. A similar decline in correlation of common ion-discharge relations was observed at the Snake River at King Hill station after 1957, and this also might be attributable to changes in water regulation at various upstream impoundments.

Idaho↗
USGS1973

Sediment transport by streams in the Upper Columbia River Basin, Washington, May 1969-June 1971

This report presents the results of a reconnaissance evaluation of the fluvial-sediment transport by streams in the 28 ,000 - square-mile upper Columbia River basin in eastern Washington. The basin ranges in altitude from about 340 to 9,000 feet, and receives annual precipitation ranging from more than 150 inches in the mountains to less than 10 inches at the lower altitudes. A good vegetative cover is sustained in the mountains by the high precipitation, whereas vegeta tion is sparse in the lower semiarid parts of the basin. In the mountainous areas snowmelt runoff transports most of the sediment during April through June. In the semiarid parts of the basin, little runoff occurs during most years, and most of the sediment is transported when heavy, warm rains fall on extensive accumulations of snow. During the 1970 and 1971 water years, the measured suspended-sediment concentrations in the upper Columbia River basin ranged from less than 1 milligram per liter in many streams to more than 200,000 milligrams per liter in Providence Coulee. The estimated long-term annual suspended-sediment yields range from less than 10 tons per square mile in many basins to more than 500 tons per square mile in Providence Coulee. Man's activities have caused only a slight increase in the magnitude of the sediment discharge to the Columbia River. Although cultivation has initiated a large increase in erosion on the Columbia Plateau, and winds there move some of the loosened or easily eroded soils to depressions and runoff channels, sediment transport by streams has not increased greatly. This is because the little surface runoff on the plateau does not transport the soils to streams and to the Columbia River.

Washington↗
USGS1973

Base of fresh ground water approximately 3,000 micromhos in the Sacramento Valley and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California

The study area consists of about 6,600 square miles; about 5,500 square miles of the floor of the Sacramento Valley, and about 1,100 square miles of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The Sacramento Valley, as defined by Bryan (1923, p. 8), extends from Red Bluff 145 miles southward to Suisun Bay. It is bounded on the east by the Sierra Nevada, on the northeast by the Cascade Range, on the northwest by the Klamath Mountains, and the west by the Coast Ranges. Southward the valley merges with the Delta and the San Joaquin Valley. The width of the Sacramento Valley varies from about 30 miles near Red Bluff to about 60 miles on the south, and averages about 40 miles. The southern boundary of the study area coincides with the northern boundary used in an earlier study be Page (1971, 1973a).

California↗
USGS1974

Digital simulation of the effects of urbanization on runoff in the upper Santa Ana Valley, California

The Stanford Watershed Model was used to simulate the effects of urbanization on the discharge from five drainage basins in the upper Santa Ana Valley, an area with an average annual precipitation of 15 inches. The drainage basins ranged in size from 3.72 to 83.4 square miles. Using the model, synthetic records of streamflow for each basin were generated to represent various degrees of urban development. Examination of the synthetic records indicated that urbanization has the following effects on streamflow in the area: Average annual runoff from a drainage basin with an effective impervious area of 10 percent of the drainage area is approximately 2 inches, and increases by 1 inch for each increase in effective impervious cover equal to 10 percent of the drainage area. About 30 percent of a fully urbanized area is effectively impervious. Urbanization can increase the magnitude of peak discharge and daily mean discharge with a recurrence interval of 2 years by a factor of three to six. Peak discharges and daily mean discharges that have recurrence intervals greater than a limiting value ranging from 50 to 200 years or more are little affected by urbanization.

California↗
USGS1974

Flood profiles and inundated areas along the Lower Nisqually River, Washington

Nisqually River flood profiles, covering the reach from near the river mouth to river mile 6.4, were developed in a 2-year field study (1970-72) as part of a continuing program with the State of Washington Department of Ecology. The main channel of the reach will convey without overflow discharges as large as about 21,000 cubic feet per second, which have a 6-year recurrence interval. The banks in some areas will be overtopped at 25,500 cubic feet per second, which has a 13-year recurrence interval. The areas where overbank flooding will first occur, and water-surface profiles of a 3.4-year and 100-year flood were determined for six flood-profile stations. The largest flood for which data are available was that of December 1933; the approximate area that would be presently inundated by such a flood is shown. Alder and La Grande Reservoirs can reduce the magnitude of lower annual flood peaks downstream to some extent, but insufficient data are available to predict their effects on very large floods.

Washington↗
USGS1974

Base and thickness of the Post-Eocene continental deposits in the Sacramento Valley, California

The Sacramento Valley, which forms most of the northern one-third of the Central Valley, is a broad structural trough. The study area comprises the valley floor and some of the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Ranges, a total area of about 6,000 square miles. Beneath most places in the valley, the base of the post-Eocene continental deposits is equivalent to the base of the Tehama Formation of Pliocene age, which in some places at least may be of late Oligocene and early Miocene age. The deposits consist of intercalated beds of gravel, sand, silt, clay, tuff, conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, and claystone. And beneath large areas along the eastern side of the valley the deposits consist of basaltic and andesitic mudflows, tuff, tuff breccias, volcanic sandstones and conglomerates, and sand and gravel, as well as overlying nonvolcanic sediments. They contain most of the fresh ground water in the valley. The structure of the base of the continental deposits is that of a large northward-trending syncline whose trend is interrupted only by the Sutter Buttes. In the subsurface, faulting has occurred mostly within the basal part of the deposits. Beneath the northeastern part of the valley, along the Chico monocline, faulting has occurred through probably the total thickness of the deposits. The deposits range in thickness from zero near the margins of the valley to about 3,500 feet beneath the south-central part of the valley. The thickest sections occur along the axis of the syncline, but near Sutter Buttes the deposits are thinner than at any other locale near the central part of the valley.

California↗