FLOOD06193

• County: Alamosa
• Community: Alamosa County
• Stream Name: Rock Creek, Gato Creek, Zapata Creek
• Basin: Rio Grande
• Title: Report on Hydrologic Investigations FIS Alamosa County
• Date: 12/1/1975
• Prepared For: Alamosa County
• Prepared By: US Army Corps of Engineers
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

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above 7000 ft. in elevation and about 90 miles long and 35 to 50 miles

wide, was caused by streams running eastward from the San Juan Mountains

including the Rio Grande. The Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range rises

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along the eastern side,

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One of the streams in the study area is Rock Creek which begins in the

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San Juan Mountains at elevation about l2,000 feet, The rugged mountain

area accumulates heavy snows in winter which are released during the

warmer spring and summer months, Vegetation in the higher areas includes

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pinon-juniper, yellow and bristle cone pine and spruce. Going down

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through sagebrush and grassland foothills, the longer stretch of Rock

Creek flows through the San Luis Valley flowing about three miles south-

west of the town of Alamosa and empties into the Rio Grande. Gato Creek,

a tributary to Rock Creek, flows through similar characteristics as that

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of Rock Creek,

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Other streams in the study area are Nor~h Zapata Creek, Middle Zapata
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Creek, South Zapata Creek, and tributaries. The Zapata Creeks and tribu-

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taries originate in the Sangre de Cristo Range at elevations up to l4,OOO

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feet, The'study area is located on the Northwest corner of Alamo~a County

and is shown on plates 1 and 2, The upper portion of the drainage area

from about, 8,000 feet in elevation is in the San Isabel National Forest,

The creeks empty into the closed basin of the San Luis Valley, Runoff

from this area is predominantly caused by snowmelt runoff. Soils in the

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