Drainage systems for the desert Southwest are currently designed without much consideration for the climatological or surficial conditions of the region. The "100 year" flood has become the design standard throughout the United States due to misunderstandings about requirements of the National Flood Insurance Program. The effect of larger floods is virtually ignored, seasonal variations of rainfall patterns and intensities are neglected, and hydrologic data collection is extremely limited in watersheds of the urbanizing Southwest. The laws of nature are obscured by the rules of man during the planning and design of desert drainageways. Procedures for extrapolating runoff records and estimating the magnitude of the 100-year flood, including the LP III probability density function, the NOAA Atlas, and HEC-1, have been widely adopted in the arid regions as part of local drainage regulations. Plans are normally not approved unless the basis of design complies with the regulations. Assumptions inherent in the methods are questionable and data to verify the assumptions are limited. Drainage design can be improved by using available field data and a simple method--based on the Rational Method--is developed. Benefit-cost analysis is a valuable tool for establishing project alternatives, project size, and cost/benefit allocation. An equitability index is defined for evaluating fairness, and it is combined with the benefit-cost ratio for refining and selecting project design. Estimates of flood peaks can be improved by considering channel abstractions as "negative base flow"; by recognizing the presence of the n-value paradox; by extending flood records through paleohydrologic study; by monitoring rainfall, runoff, and the effectiveness of design strategies in urban catchments; and by using more suitable rainfall estimates. Drainage design can be made more rational by also considering sediment transport; by including nonstructural design alternatives; and by evaluating a range of flood magnitudes, not just the 100-year flood. A conceptual drainage ordinance not based on the NFIP is presented.

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This item was digitized as part of the Million Books Project led by Carnegie Mellon University and supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Cornell University coordinated the participation of land-grant and agricultural libraries in providing historical agricultural information for the digitization project; the University of Arizona Libraries, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the Office of Arid Lands Studies collaborated in the selection and provision of material for the digitization project.

The Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona is a peer-reviewed monograph series sponsored by the School of Anthropology. Established in 1959, the series publishes archaeological and ethnographic papers that use contemporary method and theory to investigate problems of anthropological importance in the southwestern United States, Mexico, and related areas.

"Macaws is a field and laboratory guide to the identification of the Military Macaw and the Scarlet Macaw. Also included is a survey of all the Southwestern culture areas which have produced macaw remains...A "labor of love" by the author...Scholarly addition to our knowledge of Southwestern prehistory." --Southwestern Lore "Excellent monograph, well illustrated...Much useful and interesting data in this study."--American Antiquity

What is the behavioral evidence of ritual prehistory? How can the development of new archaeological method and theory enable prehistorians to identify ritual deposits and reconstruct the ritual past? This dissertation addresses these questions in a case study of puebloan sites in the U.S. Southwest. Rather than attempting to identify prehistoric belief systems, it uses an artifact life-history approach to create expectations about how certain artifacts were made, used and especially disposed of in ritual contexts. Fill and floor deposits from ceremonial structures (kivas) at the ancestral Hopi pueblo of Homol'ovi II are interpreted using this approach. These deposits are then linked to a greater ritual disposal tradition whose roots extend into Basketmaker times. These findings are also applied to fragmentary skeletal remains that have previously been attributed to cannibalism and warfare. An alternative explanation, witchcraft persecution is offered.

The primary goal of this research is to gain a better understanding of the spatial and temporal relationships between atmospheric circulation features and winter climate variability in the southwestern United States, and to investigate the variations in these relationships over the past three centuries. A set of six circulation indices is compiled that describes circulation features important to winter climate variability in this region. This set includes pre-existing indices such as the SOI and a modified PNA index, as well as regionally-tailored indices. A network of 88 tree-ring chronologies is then used to reconstruct the indices and the regional winter climate variables: numbers of rainy days (a variable not previously reconstructed with tree rings) and mean maximum temperature. Analyses suggest that three types of circulation features have influenced winter climate in the Southwest over the past three centuries. Although ENSO-related circulation patterns have been an important factor, especially in the 20th century, circulation patterns featuring a southwestern low appear to be as important if not more important to climate in some time periods. Results suggest that low frequency variations in atmospheric circulation patterns have occurred over the past three centuries and have had spatially and temporally varying impacts on winter climate in the Southwest.

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