FLOOD05589

• County: Statewide
• Community: Statewide
• Stream Name: All
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Ephemeral Streams Hydraulic Factors and Their Relation to the Drainage Net
• Date: 1/1/1956
• Prepared For: State of Colorado
• Prepared By: USGS
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

IS

PHYSIOGRAPIDC AND HYDRAULIC STUDIES OF RIVERS

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STREAM ORDER

EXPLANATION

o Average values, Arroyo Calienle

. Arroyo de losFrijoles

" Arroyo de las Trampas to Rio Santa Fe

. Rio Santa Fe, Rio Galisteo, and
Canada Ancha (del oriente)

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FlGl'RE 13.-Relation of stream length and number of streams to stream order in basins or 11th order in central .:-:rew Mexico. Left, stream length plotted against st.ream
order; right, number of individual streSl.lliS of a given order plotted against order,

This same general procedure was followed for several
other sample drainage basins. Order 11 was the highest
found, this being for the main stem of Rio Galisteo.
The number and average length of streams in each order
were determined and the results are included in
figure 13,
It will be noted that the plots of stream order against
stream length and stream order against number of

streams are straight lines on semilogarithmic paper, as
Horton discovered. Lengths range from about 50 feet
for the 1st order tributaries to 54 miles for the Rio
Galisteo.
In order to visualize better the types of channels
studied and their relation to stream order, the reader is
referred to the phot()graphs in figure 14, which show
first-order tributaries in the basin of Arroyo Caliente,