WHEN THE BLUE-GREEN WATERS TURN RED Historical Flooding in Havasu Creek, Arizona U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Water-Resources Investigations Report 96—4059 Prepared in cooperation with the BUREAU OF RECLAMATION WHEN THE BLUE-GREEN WATERS TURN RED Historical Flooding in Havasu Creek, Arizona By THEODORE S. MELIS, WILLIAM M. PHILLIPS ROBERT H. WEBB, and DONALD J. BILLS U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Water-Resources Investigations Report 96—4059 Prepared in cooperation with the BUREAU OF RECLAMATION Tucson, Arizona 1996 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BRUCE BABBITT, Secretary U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Gordon P. Eaton, Director ______________________________________________________ For additional information Copies of this report can be write to: purchased from: Regional Research Hydrologist U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Geological Survey, MS-472 Open-File Reports Section Water Resources Division Box 25425, MS 517 345 Middlefield Road Denver Federal Center Menlo Park, CA 94025 Denver, CO 80225 CONTENTS Page Frontispiece................................................................................................................................................... IV Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ 1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................... 1 Physical Setting of Havasu Creek................................................................................................... 2 Recreation and Habitation Within Havasu Canyon........................................................................ 6 Purpose and Scope.......................................................................................................................... 9 Sources of Information on Floods in Havasu Creek....................................................................... 9 Units and Place Names ................................................................................................................... 10 Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... 10 Methods ........................................................................................................................................................ 11 Historical Accounts of Flooding ................................................................................................................... 13 19th-Century Flooding ................................................................................................................... 13 Floods of 1904-1905....................................................................................................................... 13 The Flood of January 2, 1910......................................................................................................... 14 The Flood of February 23, 1920..................................................................................................... 17 The Floods of August 1921 ............................................................................................................ 18 The Flood of August 1, 1928.......................................................................................................... 20 The Flood of July 1935................................................................................................................... 20 Regional Flooding of 1939 ............................................................................................................. 21 Flooding from 1940 to 1970........................................................................................................... 23 Small Floods in the summer of 1970 .............................................................................................24 The Floods Between 1970 and 1990 .............................................................................................. 28 The Flood of September 3, 1990 ................................................................................................... 29 The Flood of July 25, 1992 ............................................................................................................ 30 The Flood of February 20, 1993..................................................................................................... 32 Summary of Historic Flood Accounts ............................................................................................ 35 Photographic Evidence of Flood Damage in Havasu Canyon...................................................................... 37 Havasu Canyon near Supai............................................................................................................. 37 Fiftyfoot Falls ................................................................................................................................. 37 Navajo Falls.................................................................................................................................... 40 Havasu Falls.................................................................................................................................... 40 Havasupai Campground.................................................................................................................. 54 Mooney Falls .................................................................................................................................. 58 Mooney Falls to Beaver Falls......................................................................................................... 58 Beaver Falls .................................................................................................................................... 58 Beaver Falls to the Colorado River ................................................................................................ 74 The Confluence of Havasu Creek and the Colorado River ............................................................ 74 Summary of Photographic Evidence ............................................................................................. 77 Dendrochronology of Ash Trees................................................................................................................... 77 Response of Riparian Forest to Flooding ....................................................................................... 77 Summary and Discussion ............................................................................................................... 83 Hydroclimatology of Floods in the Havasu Creek Drainage Basin.............................................................. 87 Summary and Discussion ............................................................................................................... 95 Discussion and Conclusions.......................................................................................................................... 97 References Cited ........................................................................................................................................... 100 Contents I FIGURES Page 1. Maps showing the Havasu Creek drainage basin and vicinity in northern Arizona ........................ 3 2. Graph of the population of Supai, Arizona, 1880-1990 ................................................................... 7 3. Graph showing precipitation associated with the 1904-1905 flood in Havasu Creek ..................... 14 4. Graph showing precipitation associated with the January 1910 flood in Havasu Creek ................. 15 5. Graph showing precipitation associated with the February 1920 flood in Havasu Creek ............... 17 6. Graphs showing rainfall associated with the August 1921 flood in Havasu Creek ......................... 18 7. Graphs showing rainfall associated with the August 1928 flood in Havasu Creek ......................... 21 8. Graph showing rainfall associated with the July 1935 flood in Havasu Creek................................ 23 9. Graph showing rainfall in September 1939 that was not associated with a known flood in Havasu Creek .................................................................................................... 24 10. Graphs showing rainfall associated with the 1954-1955 floods in Havasu Creek......................... 25 11. Graph showing rainfall associated with the 1970 floods in Havasu Creek.................................... 28 12. Graph showing rainfall associated with the September 1990 flood in Havasu Creek ................... 29 13. Graph showing rainfall associated with the July 1992 flood in Havasu Creek.............................. 31 14. Graph showing streamflow in Havasu Creek from July 24 through 28, 1992............................... 32 15. Graphs showing particle data for coarse debris deposited in Havasu Canyon near the Colorado River................................................................................................................. 33 16. Graph showing precipitation associated with the February 1993 flood in Havasu Creek ............. 34 17. Graph showing streamflow in Havasu Creek from February 19 through 23, 1993 ....................... 34 18. Map of Havasu Canyon showing the locations of historical photographs .................................... 38 19. Replicate views of Havasu Canyon in the vicinity of Supai .........................................................