The Passage of Turbid Water through Lake Mead

Turbid water carrying a consider able load of fine silt was discharged from Lake Mead, above Boulder Dam, in Arizona and Nevada, at three different periods during 1935 when the reaervoir was 70 to 90 miles long and contained from 4000000 to 5000000 acre-ft of water. Apparently, it flowed through the reservoir essentially unmixed. Chemical analyses of the water entering into, and discharged from, the reservoir corroborate the conclusions drawn from the observations of silt as to the occasional discharge of essentially unmixed water. The phenomenon is ascribed to the greater specific gravity of the incoming water relative to the generally clear water at the surface of the lake, due probably, in part, to its silt load. A practical significance is suggested with respect to the possibility of increasing the passage of fine silt through a reservoir, thereby prolonging its effective life. References are made to other known occurrences of similar phenomena.