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L.L. Laine

Publications and source records attributed to L.L. Laine.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Surface water of Beaver Creek Basin, in South-Central Oklahoma

Annual discharge from Beaver Creek basin is estimated to have averaged 217,000 acre-feet during a 19-year base period, water years 1938-56, equivalent to an average annual runoff depth of 4.7 inches over the 857 square-mile drainage area. About 55,000 acre-feet per year comes from Little Beaver Creek basin, a tributary drainage of 195 square miles. Yearly streamflow is highly variable. The discharge of Little Beaver Creek near Duncan during 13-year period of record (water years 1949-61) has ranged from 86,530 acre-feet in calendar year 1957 to 4,880 acre-feet in 1956, a ratio of almost 18 to 1. Highest runoff within a year tends to occur in the spring months of May and June, a 2-month period that, on the average, accounts for more than half of the annual discharge of Little Beaver Creek near Duncan. The average monthly runoff during record was lowest in January. Variation in daily streamflow is such that while the average discharge for the 13-year period of record was 50.1 cfs (cubic feet per second), the daily discharge was more than 6 cfs only about half of the time. There was no flow at the site 19 percent of the time during the period. Some base runoff usually exists in the headwaters of Beaver and Little Beaver Creeks, and in the lower reaches of Beaver Creek. Low flow in Cow Creek tends to be sustained by waste water from Duncan, where water use in 1961 averaged 4 million gallons per day. In the remainder of the basin, periods of no flow occur in most years. The surface water of Beaver Creek basin is very hard but in general is usable for municipal, agricultural and industrial purposes. The chemical character of the water is predominantly a calcium, magnesium bicarbonate type of water in the lower three quarters of the basin, except in Cow Creek where oil-field brines induce a distinct sodium, calcium chloride characteristic at low and medium flows. A calcium sulfate type of water occurs in most of the northern part of the basin except in headwater areas underlain by the Rush Springs Sandstone, where quality is similar to that in the lower basin. The report gives an estimate of the average discharge at several sites in Beaver Creek basin for a 19-year base period, October 1937 to September 1956. Duration curves of daily discharge for Little Beaver Creek near Duncan and Beaver Creek near Waurika are shown for the period of record. Monthly and annual discharge records for these gaging stations are presented. The results of 52 discharge measurements at 17 other sites in the basin are tabulated, with 5 groups being plotted as discharge profiles. Storage requirements for regulated discharge at the two gaging stations are shown. (available as photostat copy only)

Open-File Report

Surface waters of Cottonwood Creek in the Cimarron River basin in central Oklahoma

Annual discharge from Cottonwood Creek basin is estimated to have averaged 73,000 acre-ft during a 19-year base period, water years 1938-56, equivalent to an average annual runoff depth of 3.6 inches over the 380 square-mile drainage area. About 30,000 acre-ft per year comes from Deer Creek basin, a tributary drainage of 155 square miles. Yearly streamflow is highly variable. The discharge of Bluff Creek above Lake Hefner, near Oklahoma City, a small sub-basin of 1.62 square miles in Deer Creek basin, has varied from 484 acre-ft in 1951 to 55 acre-ft in 1956, a ratio of 9 to 1 during the period of record 1950-58. Highest runoff within a year tends to occur in the spring months of April through June, a 3-month period that, on the average, accounts for about 60 percent of the annual discharge of Cottonwood Creek. Lowest streamflow usually occurs in August and September. Occurrence of no flow in some years has been observed in the lower part of the basin and in the upper parts of Bluff Creek and Chisholm Creek basins. Variation in daily streamflow is such that the estimated average discharge of 97 cfs (cubic feet per second) for Cottonwood Creek just upstream from Guthrie is exceeded only 12 percent of the time and the daily discharge is more than 16 cfs only half of the time. There is no flow at the site about 7 percent of the time, assuming conditions of basin development prevailing in the last decade. Base flow in parts of the basin is augmented to some extent by seepage from reservoirs. In Bluff Creek basin, the seepage from Lake Hefner toward Spring Creek is 0.2 to 0.3 acre-ft per day; that toward Bluff Creek ranges from 1.7 to 3 acre-ft per day, depending on variation of reservoir level in the top 6 feet of capacity; and that toward Dry Creek is 0.3 to 0.4 acre-ft per day. Low flow in Chisholm Creek is sustained by sewage effluent from The Village, averaging 3 acre-ft per day. The surface waters of Cottonwood Creek basin are hard but in general are usable for domestic and irrigation supplies. Evidence indicates brines are present in upper Chisholm Creek. The chemical character of the waters varies from a sulfate, chloride type of water in the major part of the basin to a calcium, magnesium bicarbonate type of water in tributaries in the lower part of the basin. This report gives an estimate of the average discharge at several sites in Cottonwood Creek basin for a 19-year base period, October 1937 to September 1956. Duration curves of daily discharge for Bluff Creek above Lake Hefner are shown for the period of record and for the base period. The low-flow part of an estimated duration curve for Cottonwood Creek near Guthrie is given. Monthly and annual discharge records for Bluff Creek above Lake Hefner are presented. The results of 99 discharge measurements on Cottonwood Creek near Guthrie (through December 1961) and of 312 discharge measurements at 29 other sites in the basin are tabulated. (available as photostat copy only)

Open-File Report

Surface waters of Illinois River basin in Arkansas and Oklahoma

The estimated runoff from the Illinois River basin of 1,660 square miles has averaged 1,160,000 acre-feet per year during the water years 1938-56, equivalent to an average annual runoff depth of 13.1 inches. About 47 percent of the streamflow is contributed from drainage in Arkansas, where an average of 550,000 acre-ft per year runs off from 755 square miles, 45.5 percent of the total drainage area. The streamflow is highly variable. Twenty-two years of record for Illinois River near Tahlequah, Okla., shows a variation in runoff for the water year 1945 in comparison with 1954 in a ratio of almost 10 to 1. Runoff in 1927 may have exceeded that of 1945, according to records for White River at Beaver, Ark., the drainage basin just east of the Illinois River basin. Variation in daily discharge is suggested by a frequency analysis of low flows at the gaging station near Tahlequah, Okla. The mean flow at that site is 901 cfs (cubic feet per second), the median daily flow is 350 cfs, and the lowest 30-day mean flow in a year probably will be less than 130 cfs half of the time and less than 20 cfs every 10 years on the average. The higher runoff tends to occur in the spring months, March to May, a 3-month period that, on the average, accounts for almost half of the annual flow. High runoff may occur during any month in the year, but in general, the streamflow is the lowest in the summer. The mean monthly flow of Illinois River near Tahlequah, Okla., for September is about 11 percent of that for May. Records show that there is flow throughout the year in Illinois River and its principal tributaries Osage Creek, Flint Creek and Barren Fork. The high variability in streamflow in this region requires the development of storage by impoundment if maximum utilization of the available water supplies is to be attained. For example, a 120-day average low flow of 22 cfs occurred in 1954 at Illinois River near Tahlequah, Okla. To have maintained the flow at 350 cfs, the median daily flow during the 19-year base period, an impoundment at that site would have required a usable storage of 185,000 acre-ft to satisfy this demand during the drought years 1954-1956. The surface waters of the Illinois River basin are excellent quality being suitable for municipal, agriculture and most industrial uses. The average concentration of the dissolved mineral content is about 105 ppm (parts per million) and the hardness about 85 ppm. The water is slightly alkaline, having a range of pH values from 7.2 to 8.0. This report gives the estimated average discharge at gaging stations and approximations of average discharge at the State line for 3 sub-basins during the 19-year period October 1937 to September 1956, used as a base period in this report. Duration-of-flow data for various percentages of the time are shown for the period of observed record at the gaging stations; similar data are estimated for the selected base period. Storage requirements to sustain flow during the recent drought years are given for 3 stations. The streamflow records in the basin are presented on a monthly and annual basis through September 1957; provisional records for 3 stations are included through July 1958 for correlation purposes. Results of discharge measurements are given for miscellaneous sites where low-flow observations have been made. (available as photostat copy only)

Open-File Report

Surface-water resources of Polecat Creek basin, Oklahoma

A compilation of basic data on surface waters in Polecat Creek basin is presented on a monthly basis for Heyburn Reservoir and for Polecat Creek at Heyburn, Okla. Chemical analyses are shown for five sites in the basin. Correlation of runoff records with those for nearby basins indicates that the average annual runoff of the basin above gaging station at Heyburn is 325 acre-feet per square mile. Estimated duration curves of daily flow indicate that under natural conditions there would be no flow in Polecat Creek at Heyburn (drainage area, 129 square miles) about 16 percent of the time on an average, and that the flow would be less than 3 cubic feet per second half of the time. As there is no significant base flow in the basin, comparable low flows during dry-weather periods may be expected in other parts of the basin. During drought periods Heyburn Reservoir does not sustain a dependable low-water flow in Polecat Creek. Except for possible re-use of the small sewage effluent from city of Sapulpa, dependable supplies for additional water needs on the main stem will require development of supplemental storage. There has been no regular program for collection of chemical quality data in the basin, but miscellaneous analyses indicate a water of suitable quality for municipal and agricultural uses in Heyburn Reservoir and Polecat Creek near Heyburn. One recent chemical analysis indicates the possibility of a salt pollution problem in the Creek near Sapulpa. (available as photostat copy only)

Open-File Report