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Geological Survey Circular 346: First Fourteen Years Of Lake Mead, Harold E. Thomas

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This circular summarizes the results of recent studies of Lake Mead and its environs. Area-capacity tables, prepared on the basis of a hydrographic survey of the lake in 1948-49, show that the capacity of the reservoir was reduced 4. 9 percent during the first 14 years after Hoover Dam was completed, but the usable capacity was reduced only 3.2 percent. Practically all of this reduction was caused by accumulation of sediment in the reservoir. Studies of inflow and outflow indicate that the reservoir has a total storage capacity about 12 percent greater than that shown by the area-capacity table, because …