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Subsurface recharge to the Tesuque aquifer system from selected drainage basins along the western side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Santa Fe, New Mexico

Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4072
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https://doi.org/10.3133/wri944072

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Abstract

Water budgets developed for basins of five streams draining the western side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico indicate that subsurface inflow along the mountain front is recharging the Tesuque aquifer system of the Espanola Basin. Approximately 14,700 acre-feet of water per year, or 12.7 percent of average annual precipitation over the mountains, is calculated to leave the mountain block and enter the basin as subsurface recharge from the drainage basins of the Rio Nambe, Rio en Medio, Tesuque Creek, Little Tesuque Creek, and Santa Fe River. About 5,520 acre- feet per year, or about 12 percent of average annual precipitation, is calculated to enter from the Rio Nambe drainage basin; about 1,710 acre- feet per year, or about 15 percent of average annual precipitation, is calculated to enter from the Rio en Medio drainage basin; about 1,530 acre- feet, or about 10 percent of average annual precipi- tation, is calculated to enter from the Tesuque Creek drainage basin; about 1,790 acre-feet, or about 19 percent of average annual precipitation, is calculated to enter from the Little Tesuque Creek drainage basin; and about 4,170 acre-feet per year, or about 12 percent average annual precipitation, is calculated to enter from the Santa Fe River drainage basin. Calculated subsurface recharge values were used to define maximum fluxes permitted along the specified-flux boundary defining the mountain front of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains in a numerical computer model of the Tesuque aquifer system near Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Suggested Citation

Wasiolek, M., 1995, Subsurface recharge to the Tesuque aquifer system from selected drainage basins along the western side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Santa Fe, New Mexico: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4072, vi, 57 p. :ill., maps ;28 cm., https://doi.org/10.3133/wri944072.

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Subsurface recharge to the Tesuque aquifer system from selected drainage basins along the western side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Santa Fe, New Mexico
Series title Water-Resources Investigations Report
Series number 94-4072
DOI 10.3133/wri944072
Year Published 1995
Language ENGLISH
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey ; Earth Science Information Center, Open-File Reports Section [distributor],
Description vi, 57 p. :ill., maps ;28 cm.
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