We are measuring in situ produced, cosmogenic 10-Be and 26-Al in over 60 samples from the Rio Puerco and its tributaries in northern New Mexico.
The data from these samples will be used to estimate long-term rates of sediment generation for comparison with short term rates measured on individual hillslopes and calculated from suspended sediment load data.
Over the past two years, we have been working intensively in a tributary basin, Arroyo Chavez. This work is part of Erik Clapp's doctoral dissertation.
In May, 1998, we collected 37 samples from points dispersed throughout the entire Puerco drainage.
Many of the samples sites were inaccessible and required helicopter support for sampling.
Many thanks to Mark Santee, our Bureau of Reclamation pilot.
and of course to Milan Pavich and the USGS for their support as well as the unknown engineer who designed this, the best concrete access gully to the Rio Puerco.