Bathymetric map and surface area and capacity table for Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri, 2020
Table Rock Lake was completed in 1958 on the White River in southwestern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas for flood control, hydroelectric power, public water supply, and recreation. The surface area of Table Rock Lake is about 42,400 acres, and about 715 miles of shoreline are at the conservation pool level (915 feet above the North American Vertical Datum of 1988). Sedimentation in reservoirs can result in reduced water storage capacity and a reduction in usable aquatic habitat; therefore, accurate and up-to-date estimates of reservoir water capacity are important for managing pool levels, power generation, recreation, and downstream aquatic habitat. Many of the lakes operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are periodically surveyed to monitor bathymetric changes that affect water capacity. In October and November 2020, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, completed one such survey of Table Rock Lake using a multibeam echosounder. The echosounder data were combined with U.S. Geological Survey 1/3 arc-second digital elevation model data and light detection and ranging (lidar) data, where present, to prepare a bathymetric map and a surface area and capacity table up to the flood pool elevation of 931 feet above the North American Vertical Datum of 1988.