Civil Engineering ETDs

Publication Date

5-19-1968

Abstract

Man has been troubled by the sediment in streams for many thousands of years. Any information toward understanding the nature of this sediment should benefit man in his endeavor to cope with it. Available information was used to determine if trends in the annual quantities of suspended sediment exist in the Upper Rio Grande Bas in in New Mexico. The study revealed that trends do exist and quantitative values were determined for the different trend periods. An effort was made to determine the most probable cause or causes for the changes that occurred in the trends. Eighteen years of suspended sediment data from six stations in the Upper Rio Grande Basin were analyzed by the double-mass curve techinque. Trends at the four uppermost stations were very similar and showed a somewhat constant water-sediment relationship from the water year 1948 to about the 1957 water year. After 1957 the amount of sediment per unit of water decreased slightly. The decrease was most evident at Rio Grande near Bernardo and least evident at the uppermost station, Rio Chama near Chamita. An analysis of the construction of man-made structures and climatic events revealed that a change in climate from relatively dry to relatively wet was the probable cause for the change in the water-sediment relation at these four stations. The trends of the Rio Grande at San Acacia appear to be controlled by the amount of sediment contributed to the Rio Grande by the high sediment yielding tributaries, the Rio Puerco and the Rio Salado. Man-made structures appear to have changed the water-sediment relationship of the Rio Grande at San Marcial. About 1954 the concentration of suspended sediment in the water more than doubled that of the 1948-54 period, and remained doubled through the 1965 water year. An analysis of suspended sediment data from 1897 to 1964 (calendar years) at San Marcial revealed that man also influenced (decreased) the water sediment relationship by constructing a number of irrigation diversion structures. These structures divert considerable sediment along with the diverted water. The flood detention and sediment retention reservoirs, Jemez and Abiquiu, appear to have made no noticeable affect in the water sediment relation at the stations studied. Questions raised by the study are mentioned but not discussed.

Document Type

Thesis

Language

English

Degree Name

Civil Engineering

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Civil Engineering

First Committee Member (Chair)

Jose Eleazar Martinez

Second Committee Member

William Walter Hakala

Third Committee Member

John Bryan Carney Jr.

Fourth Committee Member

Sherman Alexander Wengerd

Download

Share

COinS