New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting — Abstracts

 The El Rito watershed is a snow-dominated watershed, located in Northern New Mexico, that drains part of the Tusas Mountains and supplies flow to the Rio Chama. Synoptic sampling and stream gauging were conducted to monitor groundwater and surface water interactions along the El Rito Creek. It is hypothesized that geologic structures strongly control streamflow and groundwater-surface water interactions in El Rito Creek. Analyses of vertical hydraulic gradients and solute concentrations from stream and mini-piezometer samples, as well as discharge data, indicate a decrease in streamflow in reaches downstream of a fault that crosses the creek.  Future work will be conducted to examine what role the fault has in streamflow processes of El Rito Creek and to examine how other factors, such as land use changes, contribute to the discharge pattern observed.  These interpretations of groundwater and surface water interactions will be used in the development of a fully coupled groundwater-surface water model of the El Rito watershed.