A finite element groundwater flow model was used to support a hydrologic assessment for a study area in the Lower San Pedro River Basin which contains the Bingham Cienega. Consolidated sedimentary rocks associated with an extension of the Catalina Core Complex truncate the floodplain aquifer system in the study area. The elevated water table produced by this "hardrock" results in spring discharge at the cienega and a locally gaining reach of the San Pedro River. The steady -state model suggests that recharge (and discharge) components for the floodplain aquifer sum to 3.10 cfs. Mountain front recharge, underflow, and stream leakage are the primary recharge mechanisms, while stream leakage, evapotranspiration, spring flow, and underflow out are sources for groundwater discharge. A steady -oscillatory model was used to account for seasonal periodicity in the system's boundary conditions. Monthly variation in the evapotranspiration rate was offset primarily by storage changes in the aquifer. Due to a lack of measured hydrologic data within the study area, results from the model simulations are only preliminary. Model development and the subsequent sensitivity analyses have provided insight into what type of data needs to be collected. Head measurements are most needed in the area just downstream from Bingham Cienega. The mountain front recharge and evapotranspiration rates are shown to be highly sensitive parameters in the model; improved estimation of these values would be helpful. Spring discharge would be a valuable calibration tool if it could be accurately measured. A more extensive record of stream baseflow in the San Pedro River should be established. After more hydrologic data is collected, the model could be recalibrated so as to better represent the system. Eventually, this tool may be used in direct support of management and/or restoration decisions.

A seasonal groundwater model was developed to simulate fluxes and head distributions with periodic boundary conditions within the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area (SPRNCA) in southeastern Arizona. This model incorporated a seasonal approach for the period 1940-1995. Two years were used to simulate streamflow, 1990 and 1995. The model, as currently calibrated, does not accurately reproduce observed baseflow conditions in the San Pedro River and simulates an exaggerated effect of retiring irrigation within the SPRNCA. The model simulated increased baseflows while the observed baseflows declined at the USGS Charleston stream gage, though increases in baseflow contributions between Hereford Bridge and Lewis Springs have been reported. The original (Corell, et al., 1996) model and the seasonal transient model suffer from over- estimation of discharge from the floodplain aquifer to the San Pedro river, as well as errors in the seasonal transient model's simulation of riparian ET, and seasonal variations in stream conductance. These problems precluded the seasonal transient model from replicating the observed baseflows in the San Pedro river at the Charleston bridge, however, the results of the simulation are thought to be qualitatively indicative of changes in the flow system resulting from the retirement of irrigated agriculture in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. Possible sources for this problem include replacement of irrigation stresses by the expansion of cones of depression more distant from the river, overestimation of mountain front recharge, poor baseflow estimates and evapotransipration calculations from the stream gages at Charleston and Palominas, and the effects of a recently discovered silt -clay body that may dampen the speed of the rivers response to changes in stress. Additional efforts to re- calibrate the model, taking these areas into account, should provide better simulated baseflow values of the observed data.

This report is in two parts. The first part covers the ecological processes pertinent to the restoration of Bingham Cienega. The second part presents a subregional groundwater flow model for analyzing the water budget, stream and spring behavior, and water table configuration. Because of the sparsity of ecological and hydrologic data, both parts must be considered as preliminary studies.

Landscapes are changing environments. Conservation of the amenities associated with landscapes must take into account the tendency of a landscape to change over time. Change is considered to be influenced by both cultural land use practices and natural resource processes which act on the landscape. A technique is developed which demonstrates an approach to measure the stability of landscapes. This approach also provides a means to qualify the importance of the elements which make up the landscape, thus defining the matrix of the landscape. A case study of the San Pedro National Conservation Area is used to demonstrate the technique. Sampled at three intervals 1935, 1973 and 1986 the landscape is shown to be stable, identifying this area with intrinsic value for conservation. Landscape scale assessments are shown to be inappropriate for ecosystem scale changes.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Between 1865 and 1915, arroyos developed in the southwestern United States across diverse hydrological, ecological and cultural settings. That they developed simultaneously has encouraged the search for a common cause-- some phenomenon that was equally widespread and synchronous. There are few southwestern streams for which we have even a qualitative understanding of timelines and processes involved in initiation and extension of historic arroyos. Tucson's Santa Cruz River, often cited in the arroyo literature, offers a unique opportunity to chronicle the arroyo legacy and evaluate its causes. The present study reconstructs both the physical and cultural circumstances of channel entrenchment along the Santa Cruz River. Primary data include newspaper accounts, notes and plants of General Land Office surveys, eyewitness accounts, legal depositions, and repeat photography. On the Santa Cruz River, arroyo initiation and extension happened during relatively wet decades associated with frequent warm episodes in the tropical Pacific (El Niño conditions). Intensified El Niño activity during the period 1864-1891 may be symptomatic of long-term climatic change, perhaps indicative of global warming and destabilization of Pacific climate at the end of the Little Ice Age. During this period all but one of the years registering more than three days with rain exceeding 2.54 cm (1 in) in Tucson were El Niño events. The one exception was the summer of 1890, when the central equatorial Pacific was relatively cold but when prevailing low-surface pressures and low-level winds nevertheless steered tropical moisture from the west coast of Mexico into southern Arizona. In the twentieth century, catastrophic channel widening was caused by floods during El Niño events in 1905, 1915, 1977 and 1983. The Santa Cruz River arroyo formed when climatic conditions heightened the probabilities for occurrence of large floods in southern Arizona. Inadequate engineering of ditches that resulted in abrupt changes in the longitudinal profile of the stream further augmented probabilities that any one of these floods would initiate an arroyo. In the future, changing flood probabilities with low-frequency climatic fluctuations and improved flow conveyance due to intensified land use and channel stabilization will further complicate management of the arroyo in an increasingly urbanized floodplain.

No description available.

No description available.