The Santa Maria River is an
intermittent stream located in western
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
. It is a primary tributary of the
Bill Williams River
The Bill Williams River is a river in west-central Arizona where it, along with one of its tributaries, the Santa Maria River, form the boundary between Mohave County to the north and La Paz County to the south.''Arizona Atlas & Gazetteer,'' ...
and one of the main sources of inflow for
Alamo Lake. The river forms a portion of the boundary between
Mohave
Mojave or Mohave most often refers to:
*Mojave Desert
*Mojave River
*Mohave people
*Mojave language
*Mohave County, Arizona, a county in the U.S. state of Arizona
Mojave or Mohave may also refer to:
Places
* Fort Mojave Indian Reservation
* Mo ...
and
La Paz
La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...
counties.
Course
The Santa Maria River is formed by the confluence of the Sycamore and Kirkland Creeks, about east of the community of
Bagdad. From the confluence, the river flows in a generally southwesterly direction through the rugged
Arrastra Mountain Wilderness area (
Poachie Range–
Black Mountains). The river accepts a number of smaller, intermittent streams throughout its length.
The river joins the
Big Sandy River to form the Bill Williams River just upstream of Alamo Lake. During periods of heavy rainfall, the lake may extend beyond the confluence point, during which period the Santa Maria empties directly into the lake rather than joining the Big Sandy River.
The total length of the river is approximately , of which are considered
perennial stream
A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long, large stream ...
.
The remainder is
ephemeral
Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...
and runs only during periods of heavy rain.
See also
*
List of rivers of Arizona
References
External links
Realtime monitoring of stream discharge
{{authority control
Rivers of Arizona
Rivers of Mohave County, Arizona
Rivers of La Paz County, Arizona