Sources of Suspended-Sediment Loads in the Lower Nueces River Watershed, Downstream from Lake Corpus Christi to the Nueces Estuary, South Texas (1958-2010)

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation
with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District;
City of Corpus Christi; Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority;
San Antonio River Authority; and San Antonio Water System,
developed, calibrated, and tested a Hydrological Simulation
Program—FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed model to simulate
streamflow and suspended-sediment concentrations and loads
during 1958–2010 in the lower Nueces River watershed,
downstream from Lake Corpus Christi to the Nueces Estuary
in south Texas. Data available to simulate suspended-sediment
concentrations and loads consisted of historical sediment data
collected during 1942–82 in the study area and suspendedsediment concentration data collected periodically by the
USGS during 2006–7 and 2010 at three USGS streamflowgaging stations (08211000 Nueces River near Mathis, Tex.
[the Mathis gage], 08211200 Nueces River at Bluntzer, Tex.
[the Bluntzer gage], and 08211500 Nueces River at Calallen,
Tex. [the Calallen gage]), and at one ungaged location on a
Nueces River tributary (USGS station 08211050 Bayou Creek
at Farm Road 666 near Mathis, Tex.). The Mathis gage is
downstream from Wesley E. Seale Dam, which was completed
in 1958 to impound Lake Corpus Christi. Suspended-sediment
data collected before and after completion of Wesley E. Seale
Dam provide insights to the effects of the dam and reservoir
on suspended-sediment loads transported by the lower Nueces
River downstream from the dam to the Nueces Estuary.
Annual suspended-sediment loads at the Nueces River near the
Mathis, Tex., gage were considerably lower for a given annual
mean discharge after the dam was completed than before the
dam was completed.