USGS

Sedimentation Survey of Lago El Guineo, Puerto Rico, October 2001

By Luis R. Soler-López

 

In cooperation with the
PUERTO RICO ELECTRIC POWER AUTHORITY

 

U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 03-4093

ONLINE ONLY

You can DOWNLOAD THIS REPORT (3.1 MB) in Portable Document Format (PDF)

The Adobe PDF Reader program is available for free from Adobe.


ABSTRACT

Lago El Guineo has lost about 17.5 percent of its original storage capacity in 70 years because of sediment accumulation. The water volume has been reduced from 2.29 million cubic meters in 1931, to 2.03 million cubic meters in 1986, and to 1.89 million cubic meters in 2001. The average annual storage-capacity loss (equal to the sedimentation rate) of Lago El Guineo was 4,727 cubic meters for the period of 1931 to July 1986 (or 0.21 percent per year), increasing to 5,714 cubic meters for the period of 1931 to October 2001 (or 0.25 percent per year). Discrepancies that could lead to substantial errors in volume calculations in a small reservoir like Lago El Guineo, were found when transferring the field-collected data into the geographic information system data base 1:20,000 U.S. Geological Survey Jayuya, Puerto Rico quadrangle. After verification and validation of field data, the Lago El Guineo shoreline was rectified using digital aerial photographs and differential global positioning data.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract

Introduction

Dam, Reservoir, and Basin Characteristics

Method of Survey

Field Techniques

Data Processing

Storage Capacity and Sediment Accumulation

Trapping Efficiency

Sediment Yield

References

PLATES

1. Lago El Guineo, Puerto Rico, Bathymetry, October 2001

2. Lago El Guineo, Puerto Rico, Bathymetry, July 1986

 


The citation for this report, in USGS format, is as follows:

 

Soler-López, L.R., 2003, Sedimentation survey of Lago El Guineo, Puerto Rico, October 2001: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 03-4093, 21 p., 2 pls.

 

Please visit http://pr.water.usgs.gov/ for more information about USGS activities in the Caribbean (Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands).

 




FirstGov button  Take Pride in America button