Potential overflow of Mojave Creek near disposal site, Edwards Air Force Base, California

Sedimentological evidence in Mojave Creek near Edwards, California, indicates that the largest discharge in the last hundred years near the disposal site of the Main Base Landfill at Edwards Air Force Base was a few hundred cubic feet per second. The distal ends of two alluvial fans on the Mojave Creek floodplain near the Main Base Landfill have not been eroded substantially since sediment supply was cut off by a railroad grade completed in 1884. Previous estimates of flood discharges were 4,000 cubic feet per second and larger in this reach; the estimates were calculated by regression equations derived from regional characteristics. However, a 100-year rainfall in 1983 failed to produce erosion in Mojave Creek commensurate with discharges of greater than about 100 cubic feet per second. To test the potential for the creek to overflow and reach the disposal site, a hypothetical discharge was used to determine the depth of flooding at local cross sections. Although the access road from Mojave Boulevard to the Main Base Landfill may be inundated during a flood, the artificial grade at the disposal site would not be reached at a discharge of 2,000 cubic feet per second, which is an order of magnitude greater than the apparent flood discharges that occurred during the past hundred years in Mojave Creek near the present Main Base Landfill.