DRAINAGE AREAS

IN

PASCAGOULA RIVER BASIN

MISSISSIPPI-ALABAMA

 

 

 

Part 3

Pascagoula River

Below Confluence of Leaf

And Chickasawhay Rivers

 

 

 

 

Compiled by

J. D. Shell

 

 

 

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

WATER RESOURCES DIVISION

JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI

AUGUST 1981

 

 

DRAINAGE AREAS

IN

PASCAGOULA RIVER BASIN

MISSISSIPPI-ALABAMA

 

By

J. D. Shell

 

INTRODUCTION

 

            The drainage area for a stream basin is an important characteristic for flood-plain management and development.  The planning and designs of highways, bridges, culverts, and other structures near streams requires knowledge of drainage area size Drainage-area information is also needed for estimating flood magnitude and elevation and for estimating low flows in streams.

 

            The U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, has computed drainage areas at all sites in the Pascagoula River basin where there is current or anticipated future need for these data.  They are presented in the accompanying tabulation.

 

DRAINAGE AREA AND ACCURACY

 

            The drainage area of a stream at a specified location ordinarily may be defined as that area, measured in a horizontal plane, which is enclosed by a topographic divide such that direct surface runoff from precipitation normally would drain by gravity into the river basin above the specified point.

 

            The drainage areas in square miles, have been determined using procedures recommended by the Subcommittee on Hydrology of the Federal Inter-Agency River Basin Committee in “Notes on Hydrologic Activities”—Bulletin No. 4—November 1951.  All subareas measured within given quadrilaterals were adjusted on the basis of proportion to total area measured so that the summation of the adjusted partial areas checks the total geographic area within the quadrilateral as determined from Smithsonian Geographic Tables.  The values of the drainage areas are listed to hundredths of a square mile where possible, to facilitate the determination of intervening areas.  In general practice, drainage areas are rounded as follows:

 

 

 

Drainage Area                                                  Significant Figures

 

Less than 10 square miles                              Nearest 0.01 square mile

10 to 99.9 square miles                                          Nearest 0.1 square mile

Over 100 square miles                                          Nearest 1 square mile

 

EXPLANATION OF TABULAR DATA

 

            Station Identification Number—The identification number given for a site is the downstream order number in the nation-wide coding system adopted by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1958, and the sequence corresponds to the downstream order of stations.  In this system, numbering proceeds down the main stem of a stream until a tributary is reached.  All sites on that tributary are then numbered in a downstream direction before the next main-stem site below the tributary is numbered.  If the tributary itself has a subtributary, the same system is used for numbering sites on the subtributary.  Gaps are left in numbers to allow for new stations that may be established; hence, the numbers are not always consecutive.  Generally, points where drainage areas have been determined are identified by numbers only where water-resources have been previously collected.

 

            Stream Name and Description—The name of the stream was obtained from the map used for determining the drainage area listed.  The stream site is referenced to a landmark or other local feature to aid in the location of the point at which the drainage area is given.

 

            Landline Location—The landline location is given to the quarter of quarter section except in cases of irregular sections or lots when only the section or lot number is noted.

 

            County and Code Number—The county in which the sites are located is given along with the county code number as designated by Federal Information Processing Standards Publication (FIPS PUB) 6-2.  For sites on streams which form county lines, the county listed is generally that in which the town listed in the site name is located.

 

            Quadrangle Map and Corps of Engineers Number—The quadrangle map in which the site is located is noted along with the map number as designated by the Corp of Engineers, Mobile District.

 

            Drainage Area—The drainage area is given to the nearest 0.01 square mile.

 

ABBREVIATIONS USED

 

The following abbreviations are used in this tabulation:

 

C- Creek

R- River

Br- Branch

N- North

E- East

S- South

W- West

M- Mile(s)

T-, R-, Township-, Range-, in landline location

Cty. Rd.- County Road

Cty. Hwy.- County Highway (Generally unnumbered)

St. Hwy.- State Highway

Un. Trib. Rt.- Unnamed tributary entering on right side of stream (looking

downstream)

Un. Trib. Lt.- Unnamed tributary entering on left side of stream (looking

downstream)