Peak flow, volume, and frequency of the January 1982 flood, Santa Cruz Mountains and vicinity, California

Blodgett, J.C.; Poeschel, K.R.

doi:10.3133/ofr84583

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Recurrence intervals given in table 4 for some gaging stations in the Santa Cruz Mountains subarea are different from those determined by Blodgett and Poeschel (1988). These differences result from revision of the peak discharges, use of a different historical period for which the 1982 peak is the maximum, and variations in graphical interpretation of the frequency estimates determined in accordance with procedures of the U.S. Water Resources Council (1981) .…”

Section: Frequency Of Annual Peak Flowsmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…A study of the January 1982 flood in the Santa Cruz Mountains (Blodgett and Poeschel, 1988) found that major floods on the San Lorenzo River generally result from greater-than-normal antecedent rainfall for a period up to 60 days prior to the peak, combined with subsequent intense frontal-type storms. The impact of a series of storms during the months November and December on streams in the San Francisco Bay area is indicated by the accumulated runoff plots (figs.…”

Section: Antecedent Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A generalized skew of peak flow of -0.78, as determined by Blodgett and Poeschel (1988), was applicable to streams in the Santa Cruz Mountains subarea. An evaluation of four streams in the North Bay subarea that have 27 or more years of record suggests that the skew in this subarea should be larger than the skew in the Santa Cruz Mountains and West Bay subareas, a trend similar to that shown on the map of generalized skew coefficients given Frequency of Annual Peak Flows 31 by the U.S. Water Resources Council (1981).…”

Section: Frequency Of Annual Peak Flowsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…COMPARISON WITH HISTORIC FLOODS Although peak discharges were not exceptionally high in most basins, the January 1982 flood in the San Francisco Bay area is considered one of the most damaging events in the area in the past half century. In a study of the January 1982 flood in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the magnitude of flood peaks and runoff volumes related not only to the amount of storm rainfall but also to the amount of antecedent rainfall during a period 60 days prior to a major flood (Blodgett and Poeschel, 1988). As a means of evaluating the relative magnitude and areal distribution of the January 1982 flood, antecedent conditions for historic floods on selected streams in the San Francisco Bay area were compared,…”

Section: Areal Variation In Unit Peak Runoffmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Flood of January 1982 in the San Francisco Bay area, California

Blodgett¹,

Chin²

1989

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A major winter storm originating over the Pacific Ocean moved through central California in early January 1982. As much as 16 inches of rain fell in Marin County and 25 inches in the mountains bordering Santa Cruz County. Only local streams were affected by the storm because the convective process that normally produces heavy rainfall over large areas was absent.Instead, the storm of January 3-5, 1982, had a stable atmospheric structure, and the layer of moist maritime air was confined to altitudes between 50 and 700 feet; this phenomenon caused the rain to fall most heavily along the lower slopes of the coastal mountains.As a result of antecedent rainfall, streamflow in the San Francisco Bay area exceeded normal from the end of October to the end of December 1981. For most streams, the January 1982 flood was the largest since the flood of December 1955, but it was not significantly large in comparison with historic peak-flow data. Damages associated with the storm were substantial, but flooding from stream runoff was not the major problem.Greater than normal antecedent rainfall, together with the prolonged heavy rain, liquified the supersaturated soil cover and caused numerous slope failures and debris flows on steep, unstable slopes. The median recurrence interval of the 1982 peak for 66 streamf low-gaging stations in the San Francisco Bay area is 10 years; for the 1955 flood, the median recurrence interval for 16 stations is 11 years. Unit peak runoff for streams in the study area was as much as 927 cubic feet per second per square mile (drainage area 1.09 square miles). Streams with highest unit peak runoff were in the Santa Cruz Mountains and North Bay subareas.

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Section: Frequency Of Annual Peak Flowsmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Antecedent Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Frequency Of Annual Peak Flowsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Areal Variation In Unit Peak Runoffmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Flood of January 1982 in the San Francisco Bay area, California

Blodgett¹,

Chin²

1989

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“…An example involved the storm of 3±5 January 1982, when >500 mm of rain fell in some parts of the San Francisco Bay region, on land which was already saturated by earlier rainfall (e.g., BLODGETT and POESCHEL, 1988). An example involved the storm of 3±5 January 1982, when >500 mm of rain fell in some parts of the San Francisco Bay region, on land which was already saturated by earlier rainfall (e.g., BLODGETT and POESCHEL, 1988).…”

Section: Eects Of Erosion and Sediment Transportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal Seismicity of Northern California Before the Great 1906 Earthquake

Westaway

2002

Pure appl. geophys.

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Ð During the late nineteenth century, coastal parts of northern California experienced seismicity which was more intense than at any other time in its historical record and was concentrated in Spring. The seasonal character of this anomalous seismicity was statistically signi®cant from the 1880s, if not earlier, until the time of the great 1906 earthquake. It can be explained as a result of seasonal stress transients caused by the large seasonal sediment loads which accumulated in coastal bays that overlie active strike-slip faults, as a result of hydraulic mining of gold in inland areas. Such localised loading will increase the absolute vertical stress and reduce the absolute horizontal stress, thus facilitating shear failure by unclamping vertical fault planes. However, rather than simply in¯uencing the timing of earthquakes which would otherwise have occurred anyway sometime later, this process appears to have aected the character of the region's seismicity, causing a sequence of magnitude 5±6 earthquakes which propagated outward from these coastal depocentres. These results have three important implications. First, the proposed physical mechanism is only feasible provided the deepest continental crust in this region has a viscosity no greater than $10 17 Pa s, giving it a Maxwell time of the order of weeks. These observations of seasonal seismicity thus suggest that such low viscosities are reasonable, a conclusion which has been dicult to establish using other evidence. They indicate that future calculations of the stress ®eld in this region, for instance for investigating the role of earthquake triggering, should incorporate this response by lower-crustal¯ow, not just the immediate elastic eect. Second, the conclusion that seasonal stress transients caused by seasonal changes in surface processes can aect seismicity, has important implications for hazard assessment. It raises the possibility that surface processes may in¯uence the seasonal timing and character of seismicity in other regions also. Finally, it indicates that the decades of intense seismicity, widely interpreted as precursory activity to the 1906 earthquake, were atypical of the longer-term record. Analogous sequences of moderate-sized events cannot necessarily be expected to provide advance warning of future large earthquakes in this region.

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Activities of the Water Resources Division, California District, in the 1985 fiscal year

Anttila¹

1986

Open-File Report

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Project descriptions Continued 413 Vegetation survivability studies in Owens Valley 414 Giardia in the Sierra Nevada 416 Fuel spill at the U.S. Marine Corps air station at Tustin Estimating tidal and residual circulation in San Francisco Bay 424 Southern California Regional Aquifer Systems Analysis Alluvial basins 425 Evaluation of the hydrology of consolidated-rock terrains, with emphasis on Lee Valley, San Diego County 426 Groundwater investigations in Owens Valley 427 Streamflow characteristics and geomorphic changes of Cottonwood Creek 431 Hydrologic studies related to volcanic activity in Long Valley 432 Stable carbon isotope study of primary carbon flux of food chain network of striped bass in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta aquatic ecosystem 436 Sediment transport in the San Diego Creek basin 437 Groundwater flow modeling and optimization techniques applied to high groundwater problems in San Bernardino 438 Bonsall groundwater study, San Diego County 439 Preliminary assessment of shoaling in San Leandro Bay, Alameda County 440 Hydrologic impacts of dams to be constructed on Cottonwood and South Fork Cottonwood Creeks 441 An assessment of quality and contaminant transport in the soils and ground water of the western San Joaquin Valley 443 Evaluation of techniques for measuring currents in the San Francisco Bay 446 Erosional processes in the Lake Tahoe basin 447 Water quality of U.S. lakes and reservoirs, with emphasis on eutrophication 448 Geohydrology of the Los Osos groundwater basin, San Luis Obispo County 449 Erosion and sediment transport in the drainage basin of Permanente Creek 450 Hydrologic appraisal of potential landfill sites in southeastern San Diego County 451 Development of an economic optimization model for San Bernardino Valley 454 Performance evaluation of an electromagnetic streamflow gage on Turlock Canal 455 Hydrologic evaluation of a gasoline leak at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station 456 Western San Joaquin Valley hydrologic studies Bibliography Sources of WRD publications and information Where to obtain additional information on U.S. Geological Survey programs VI Contents Along with its continuing commitment to meet the growing and changing earthscience needs of the Nation, the USGS remains dedicated to its original mission to collect, analyze, interpret, publish, and disseminate information about the natural resources of the Nation providing "Earth science in the public service.

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Peak flow, volume, and frequency of the January 1982 flood, Santa Cruz Mountains and vicinity, California

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Flood of January 1982 in the San Francisco Bay area, California

Flood of January 1982 in the San Francisco Bay area, California

Seasonal Seismicity of Northern California Before the Great 1906 Earthquake

Activities of the Water Resources Division, California District, in the 1985 fiscal year

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