Hydrological, chemical and biological assessment of two New Mexico headwater streams (2023)

<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW31489216 BCX0"> <p class="MsoNormal">Headwater streams play a crucial role in arid and semiarid regions. They provide freshwater to adjacent lowlands and temporarily store water as snowpack and groundwater. Downstream users – both humans specifically and ecosystems more broadly – depend on the delayed release, particularly during dry seasons. Headwater streams are highly vulnerable to climate change through shifts in snowmelt dynamics, changes in precipitation, evapotranspiration, and wildfire prevalence, among other factors. Monitoring headwater streams in dryland areas over time is therefore of critical importance.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Each year, graduate students enrolled in the Water Resources Program at the University of New Mexico monitor hydrological, chemical, and biological characteristics of two headwater streams in central New Mexico as part of a field methods class. This dataset contains measurements from the 2023 field campaign. At each stream site, measurements were repeated for three separate transects.  </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Las Huertas Creek (LH), the first monitoring site, is the only perennial stream in the Sandia Mountains. The stream drains north from the northeastern slope of the Sandias towards the town of Placitas, running through a narrow and heavily forested canyon. Transects range in elevation from 2190 m – 2320 m above sea level and were sampled on September 30, 2023. The second monitoring site is on the East Fork of the Jemez River (JR) within the Valles Caldera National Preserve. The stream runs through montane grasslands of the caldera, a 20 km circular depression formed by a large volcanic eruption and subsequent land subsidence approximately 1.2 million years ago. Transects are located at an elevation of approximately 2560 m above sea level and were sampled on October 7, 2023.</p> </div>