Laserfiche WebLink
A, HYDROLOGIC BALANCE <br />To complete the discussions of surface water and ground water, <br />mention should be made of the hydrologic budget. This will be <br />addressed in regards to the Starkville area in general and the <br />Raton Creek Mine Project in specif iC. <br />The basic equation of hydrology states that the quantity of <br />water into the system minus the quantity exiting equals the change <br />in storage within the system. Ideally the storage change should <br />be zero to maintain an equilibrium condition. <br />For the Starkville area, input is precipitation as rainfall <br />or snow. Data obtained for a station in Trinidad, two miles north <br />of the mine, are presented in Figure S. This diagram shows the <br />seasonal distribution and probability of occurance of precipitation. <br />Higher rainfall is characteristic of the summer months while winters <br />are typically dry. Average annual precipitation is a low 13.2 inches. <br />Outflow from the system is in several forms. Infiltrated <br />rainfall may be released during evapotranspiration or be retained <br />as stored soil moisture. It may also enter the ground water <br />reservoir to become stored ground water or contribute base flow to <br />streams, springs and seeps. Depression storage after precipitation <br />will also be evaporated or infiltrate and become subsurface flow. <br />Surface runoff is a negative term in the equation. Once it <br />becomes streamflow, the water may infiltrate back into the ground <br />water reservoir, evaporate or be lost by discharge to the Purqatoire <br />River. During months of high average rainfall (May, June, July and <br />August) evapotranspiration decreases, rains fall on wet or sat- <br />urated soils and surface runoff contributes to Raton Creek flow. <br />As rainfall diminishes in dryer months, ground water outflow <br />ro~ <br />543 FISMER,,HARDEN 3 FISHER <br />Revised 5/93 <br />