Surface Water Hydrology

SURFACE WATER HYDROLOGY

The Geology of North America

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Edited by

M. G. Wolman Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering The Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 21218

H. C. Riggs U.S. Geological Survey 415 National Center Reston, Virginia 22092

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Publication of this volume, one of the synthesis volumes of The Decade o f North American Geology Project series, has been made possible by members and friends of the Geological Society of America, corporations, and government agencies through contributions to the Decade of North American Geology fund of the Geological Society of America Foundation. Following is a list of individuals, corporations, and government agencies giving and/or pledging more than $50,000 in support of the DNAG Project:

Amoco Production Company Pennzoil Exploration and Production ARCO Exploration Company Company Chevron Corporation Phillips Petroleum Company Cities Service Oil and Gas Company Shell Oil Company Diamond Shamrock Exploration Caswell Silver Corporation Standard Oil Production Company Exxon Production Research Company Oryx Energy Company (formerly Getty Oil Company Sun Exploration and Production Gulf Oil Exploration and Production Company) Company Superior Oil Company Paul V. Hoovler Tenneco Oil Company Kennecott Minerals Company Texaco, Inc. Kerr McGee Corporation Union Oil Company of California Marathon Oil Company Union Pacific Corporation and Maxus Energy Corporation its operating companies: McMoRan Oil and Gas Company Union Pacific Resources Company Mobil Oil Corporation Union Pacific Railroad Company Occidental Petroleum Corporation Upland Industries Corporation U.S. Department of Energy

© 1990 by The Geological Society of America, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data All rights reserved. Surface water hydrology / edited by M. G. Wolman, H. C. Riggs, p. cm.— (The Geology of North A m erica; v. O -l) All materials subject to this copyright and included “One of the synthesis volumes of The Decade of North American in this volume may be photocopied for the noncommercial Geology Project series”—T.p. verso. purpose of scientific or educational advancement. Includes Bibliographical references. ISBN 0-8137-5210-8 Copyright is not claimed on any material prepared 1. Hydrology—North America. I. Wolman, M. Gordon (Markley by government employees within the scope of their Gordon), 1924- II. Riggs, H. C. III. Geological Society of employment. North America. IV. Decade of North American Geology Project. V. Series. Published by The Geological Society of America, Inc. QE71.G48 1986 vol. O-l 3300 Penrose Place, P.O. Box 9140, Boulder, Colorado 80301 [GB701] 55 s—dc20 Printed in U.S.A. [551.47’097] 90-2905 CIP

Front Cover: Popo Agie River, Wind River Range, west-central Wyoming. Photo by H. C. Riggs.

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Preface ...... v

Foreword ...... vii

1. Introduction ...... 1 H. C. Riggs and M. G. Wolman

2. Influence of the atmosphere ...... 11 Harry F. Lins, F. Kenneth Hare, and Krishan P. Singh

3. Surface waters of North America; Influence of land and vegetation on streamflow ...... 55 K. E. Saxton and S. Y. Shiau

4. Temporal and spatial variability of streamflow ...... 81 H. C. Riggs and K. D. Harvey

5. Floods ...... 97 Howard F. Matthai

6. Low flows and hydrologic droughts ...... 121 J. D. Rogers and J. T. Armbruster

7. Snow and ice ...... 131 Mark F. Meier

8. Hydrology of lakes and wetlands ...... 159 Thomas C. Winter and Ming-Ko Woo

9. Hydrogeochemistry of rivers and lakes ...... 189 John D. Hem, Adrian Demayo, and Richard A. Smith

10. Aquatic biota in North America ...... 233 R. Patrick and D. D. Williams

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11. Movement and storage of sediment in rivers of the United States and Canada ...... Robert H. Meade, Ted R. Yuzyk, and Terry J. Day

12. The riverscape ...... M. Gordon Wolman, Michael Church, Robert Newbury, Michel Lapointe, Marcel Frenette, E. D. Andrews, Thomas E. Lisle, John P. Buchanan, Stanley A. Schumm, and Brien R. Winkley

13. The influence of man on hydrologic systems ...... Robert M. Hirsch, John F. Walker, J. C. Day, and Raimo Kallio

Index ......

Plates (in pocket inside back cover)

Plate 1. Chemical composition of the surface waters of North America. J. D. Hem

Plate 2. Distribution of the difference between precipitation and open-water evaporation in North America. T. C. Winter

Plate 3. A. Ranges of mean annual runoff. B. Variation of flow regimes. H. C. Riggs and K. D. Harvey

Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/3733765/9780813754666_frontmatter.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 Preface

The Geology o f North America series has been prepared to mark the Centennial of The Geological Society of America. It represents the cooperative efforts of more than 1,000 individuals from academia, state and federal agencies of many countries, and industry to prepare syntheses that are as current and authoritative as possible about the geology of the North American continent and adjacent oceanic regions. This series is part of the Decade of North American Geology (DNAG) Project, which also includes eight wall maps at a scale of 1:5,000,000 that summarize the geology, tectonics, magnetic and gravity anomaly patterns, regional stress fields, thermal aspects, seismicity, and neotectonics of North America and its surroundings. Together, the synthesis volumes and maps are the first coordinated effort to integrate all available knowledge about the geology and geophysics of a crustal plate on a regional scale. The products of the DNAG Project present the state of knowledge of the geology and geophysics of North America in the 1980s, and they point the way toward work to be done in the decades ahead. A. R. Palmer General Editor for the volumes published by the Geological Society of America

J. O. Wheeler General Editor for the volumes published by the Geological Survey of Canada

This book, and a companion volume on Hydrogeology, describe the occurrence and movement of water on the continent and explain the hydrologic effects of geology, physiog raphy, and climate. Chapter 1 provides a very general picture of the geographic distribution of surface water (streamflow) in North America, the effects of land and climate on the amount and variability of streamflow and its impurities, the procedures used for measuring surface- water quality and quantity, and the common descriptors of surface water. Successive chapters treat the various elements of the land phase of the hydrologic cycle, beginning with the source of water, precipitation. Streamflow is the residual of precipitation after abstractions by evaporation and transpiration. These abstractions are shown to be related to the character of the land as well as to the climate. The resulting streamflows throughout North America are described in three ways: (1) the distribution of monthly and annual averages in time and space, (2) floods, and (3) low flows and hydrologic droughts. Con siderable surface water also occurs in lakes and wetlands in some regions. The extent of these waters and their relation to streamflow is the next subject. Hydrology encompasses water quality as well as water quantity. Three types of water constituents—dissolved solids, biota, and sediment—are described in separate chapters. An attempt is made to relate each of these constituents to geologic, climatic, and land characteris tics that influence their distribution and behavior. Riverscapes from different climatic and physiographic regions are described briefly to illustrate the way in which geologic structure and history, climate, and hydrology influence the look of a given river. Although the influence of man on hydrology is noted in a number of chapters in the text, a final chapter contains examples selected specifically to demonstrate the effect of man on the hydrology of the surface waters of North America. There is some overlap in material covered in successive chapters, along with obvious interrelations between chapters. Some redundancy has been retained in the interest of the coherence and completeness of individual chapters and to reinforce several key elements such as the impact of man on the hydrology of North America. Throughout, the emphasis is on the geographic distribution of hydrologic phenomena in North America. Processes that govern the hydrologic cycle, whether controlling floods, low flow, or water quality, are described in connection with their occurrence. While North America can be characterized in terms of broad climatic regions, the behavior of water influenced by climate interacting with landscape and soil creates smaller geographic units or patterns of hydrologic response. This scale is important in describing hydrologic processes and in characterizing their geography. The editors acknowledge help and cooperation from a number of individuals not specifi cally listed as authors. These include A. R. Palmer, coordinator of the Decade of North American Geology Project; J. E. Slater, Environment Canada; S. L. Changnon, Jr., Illinois State Water Survey; B. B. Hanshaw, M. E. Moss, and V. R. Schneider, U.S. Geological Survey; and the many reviewers of the individual chapters.

H. C. Riggs M. G. Wolman June 1989