FLOOD00867

• County: Statewide
• Title: Determination of Channel Change for Selected Streams, Maricopa County, Arizona
• Date: 1/1/2002
• Prepared For: Maricopa County Arizona
• Prepared By: USGS
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

0 . <JJ
CD ~
~ Annual peak <t.-
0
~ discharge UJ
10.000 600 a:
W <t.
...J
" <t.
a: z
<t. 0
I ;::
0 400
<JJ 0
0 UJ
<JJ
'" 5.000 en
<t. <JJ
UJ 0
a.
...J 200 a:
<t. 0
~
z
Z
<t.
0 0
1961 1965 1969 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997
WATER YEAR

Figure 23. Annual peak discharge and cross-sectional area relative to reference elevation, New River at
New River. Arizona, 1961-97.

right half of the main channel eroded about I fi,
and several feet of the heavily vegetated right bank
was removed.

The channel at the gaging station has changed
by as much as 57 percent over time. The cross-
sectional area relative to the reference elevation
and the annual peak discharge are shown in
figure 25. Although the large gap in the stream-
flow data exists, the stream channel appears to
have filled during the 1960s and incised during the
1990s, especially following the peak flood of
record in 1997.

09510000 Verde River below Bartlett Dam,
Arizona

The Verde River below Bartlett Dam has a
drainage area of 6, 161 mi2 and an elevation of
1,570 fi at the gaging station (fig. I). Bartlett Dam
regulates flow at the site. Channel sediment ranges
in size from boulders to fme sand. The gaging
station is on the upstream edge of a bend in the

channel. The channel is straight from 500 fi
upstream to 1,000 fi downstream from the gaging
station; the right bank is bedrock, and the lefi bank
is coarse alluvium. The two largest discharges
measured at this gaging station occurred in 1993
and 1995; therefore, cableway discharge
measurements from 1993 and 1995 were used to
show channel change during increases and
decreases in discharge.

Cableway cross sections.- The cross
section is at the cableway, which is about 200 fi
upstream from the gaging station. The first cross
section was measured on January 4, 1993, during a
discharge of3,750 fills (fig. 26). This measure-
ment was made before the peak of record of
110,000 fills that occurred on January 8, 1993
(fig. 27). The second discharge measurement of
36,400 fills was made on January 19, 1993, at
36,400 fills. Between these two measurements, the
cross section filled with sediment. The third dis-
charge measurement was made on January 21,
1993, at 7,160 fills. The cross section narrowed

34 Determination of Channel Change for Selected Streams, Maricopa County, Arizona

09517280 Tiger Wash near Aguila, Arizona

Tiger Wash near Aguila is an ephemeral
stream in western Maricopa County and has a
drainage area of 85.2 mi2 and an elevation of

surveys of the channel showed that the cross
section changed little afier moderate flows on
August 3 and August 8, but considerable erosion
occurred following the flood of record at the site
on September 26, 1997. During this flood, the

32 Determination of Channel Change for Selected Streams, Maricopa County, Arizona