Observations of contemporary arroyo cutting near Santa Fe,New Mexico,U.S.A. |
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| Authors: | Harold E Malde Arthur G Scott |
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| Abstract: | Arroyo cutting that began in the American Southwest in the 1880s is associated with sudden runoff, a circumstance characteristic of this semiarid region in which occasional intense rainfall exceeds the capacity of the ground to absorb water. This report describes two arroyos in an area of moderately dissected bolson deposits southwest of Santa Fe, Cañada de la Cueva and Pueblo Cañon, where arroyo cutting since 1970 has been closely related to runoff from summer rain. The area is vegetated chiefly by grama grass and scattered juniper. Cutting is monitored by repeated surveys of channel floors, cross-sections, and headcuts, and by repeated photographs taken as stereopairs. Rainfall and discharge are measured simultaneously in 5-minute intervals by dual digital recorders at a gauging station on Cañada de la Cueva (drainage area 4.64 km2). Discharge has been as much as 18.2 m3/s from rainfall of 25.2 mm. The maximum 15-minute intensity for this storm was 64.0 mm/hr, and runoff was 7.9 mm. The flood peak arrived in 20 minutes, by which time 80 per cent of the rain had fallen, and the flow subsided to a tenth of its maximum in less than an hour. This storm at Pueblo Cañon (drainage area 13.3 km2 above the place of measurement) resulted in an estimated discharge of 140 m3/s, and features produced by hail on the channel floor suggest that the duration of flow could have been as brief as 30 minutes. Observed increments of headward cutting at Cañada de la Cueva range from 0.28 m for 1.8 mm of runoff to 4.9 m for 12 mm of runoff. Aggregate cutting in 5 years has been as much as 13.7 m, resulting in erosion of 570 m3 of alluvium. Headward cutting near the mouth of Pueblo Cañon has been observed in increments of 10.3, 14.6, and 20.7 m, for an aggregate of 45.6 m, as measured from 1971 to 1974. This cutting removed 1,770 m3 of alluvium. |
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| Keywords: | Arroyo cutting Runoff Monitoring Semiarid erosion |
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