Application of the Gravity Survey Method to Watershed Hydrologya

Abstract

ABSTRACTA gravity survey covering 250 square miles and including the Walnut Gulch watershed at Tombstone, Arizona has been conducted. The watershed is one of the experimental areas of the Southwest Watershed Research Center, Agricultural Research Service in Tucson, Arizona.The gravity survey method was selected as the geophysical method that would give a regional picture of the subsurface geology before making extensive surveys by the seismic. refraction method. Basically, the gravity survey method detects and measures variations in the earth's gravitational force. These variations are associated with changes in rock and alluvium density near the surface. Many geologic structures of interest in watershed ground‐water hydrology cause disturbances in the normal density distribution which give rise to anomalies.The geology of the watershed is typical of Basin and Range province and contains deep basin fill deposits surrounded on the east, south, and southwest by igneous intrusives, volcanics, and sedimentary rocks. Concealed border faults may have a decided effect on the hydrology of the watershed.Four base stations were established and 360 gravity stations occupied by a Worden Educator* gravimeter loaned from the Geophysics Laboratory of the University of Arizona. Bench marks and large scale topographic maps served as control. Raw field data were reduced to the simple Bouguer anomaly values through the use of a computer program.The gravity survey reveals a 16‐mgal. gravity low over the east‐central portion of the watershed. This low is interpreted as indicating that about 3200 feet of low density alluvium underlies the area at this point. Gravity highs are associated with mountain ranges and igneous plugs where the more dense rocks occur.