Characteristics of Lake Mead, Arizona–Nevada

Figures & data

Figure 1 Key features of Lake Mead.

Table 1 Morphometric and hydrologic characteristics of Lake Mead.

Parameter	Value
Surface area	637.05 km^2 (157,418 ac)
Volume	3.5479 x 10^10 m^3 (28,763,140 ac-ft)
Mean depth	55.7 m (183 ft)
Maximum aepth	158 m (519 ft)
Watershed area	435,000 km^2 (167,800 mi^2)
Mean inflow	1.34 x 10^10 m^3/yr (10,900,000 ac-ft/yr)
Hydraulic residence time*	2.6 yr
Shoreline length	885 km (550 mi)
Watershed area to lake surface area ratio	681:1
*Calculated from average inflow and lake volume. Actual residence time depends upon reservoir operations for lakes Mead and Powell

Table 2 USGS gaging stations above Lake Mead.

Station		Location
Name	Number	Latitude	Longitude	Period of Record
Colorado River above Diamond Creek near Peach Springs, AZ	09404200	35°46′25″	113°21′46″	6/83–12/83, 9/85–2/86, 10/89– current year
Las Vegas Wash below Lake Las Vegas near Boulder City, NV	09419800	36°07′20″	114°54′15″	8/69–9/84, 7/02–current year
Virgin River at Littlefield, AZ	09415000	36°53′30″	113°55′25″	10/29–current year
Virgin River above Lake Mead near Overton, NV	09415250	36°30′58″	114°20′03″	4/06–current year
Muddy River near Glendale, NV	09419000	36°38′35″	114°32′20″	2/50–9/83, 10/84–current year
Muddy River at Lewis Avenue at Overton, NV	09419507	36°32′07″	114°25′42″	8/97–current year, not continuous

Figure 2 Lake Mead Surface elevation, 1 February 1935 to 31 December 2009.

Figure 3 Lake Mead at full pool (outline) and at the approximate current elevation of 1100 ft (335 m, gray fill).

Table 3 Chemical and physical characteristics of Lake Mead inflows, 2001–2009.

Parameter (units)	Colorado River	Las Vegas Wash	Virgin River	Muddy River
Temperature (C)	14.98	21.53	19.50	18.68
DO (mg/L)	9.59	9.22	8.92	11.25
DO (%Sat)	101.5	101.7	103.3	131.7
pH (standard units)	8.14	8.02	8.24	8.40
Specific Cond. (μS/cm)	876	2219	2955	2831
Ortho P (mg/L)	0.005	0.080	0.010	0.021
Total P (mg/L)	0.505	0.754	0.859	0.246
NO3+NO2-N (mg/L)	0.404	13.0	0.462	0.049
NH4-N (mg/L)	0.031	0.164	0.056	0.119
Total N (mg/L)	0.516	15.4	0.423	0.156

Table 4 Chemical and physical characteristics of outflow from Lake Mead, 2001–2009.

Parameter (units)	Value
Temperature (C)	13.66
DO (mg/L)	7.93
DO (%Sat)	80.9
pH (standard units)	8.01
Specific Conductance (μS/cm)	992
Ortho P (mg/L)	0.005
Total P (mg/L)	0.005
NO^− 3+NO^− 2-N (mg/L)	0.467
NH4-N (mg/L)	0.015
Total N (mg/L)	0.648
Ca (mg/L)	76.0
Mg (mg/L)	27.0
Na (mg/L)	90.1
K (mg/L)	4.66
Cl (mg/L)	83.6
SO^= 4 (mg/L)	242
HCO^− 3 (mg/L)	156