Estimated probabilities and volumes of postwildfire debris flows—A prewildfire evaluation for the Pikes Peak area, El Paso and Teller Counties, Colorado
Scientific Investigations Report
2012-5104
Prepared in cooperation with the City of Colorado Springs, Colorado
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Abstract
Debris flows are fast-moving, high-density slurries of water, sediment, and debris that can have enormous destructive power. Although debris flows, triggered by intense rainfall or rapid snowmelt on steep hillsides covered with erodible material, are a common geomorphic process in some unburned areas, a wildfire can transform conditions in a watershed with no recent history of debris flows into conditions that pose a substantial hazard to residents, communities, infrastructure, aquatic habitats, and water supply. The location, extent, and severity of wildfire and the subsequent rainfall intensity and duration cannot be known in advance; however, hypothetical scenarios based on empirical debris-flow models are useful planning tools for conceptualizing potential postwildfire debris flows. A prewildfire study to determine the potential for postwildfire debris flows in the Pikes Peak area in El Paso and Teller Counties, Colorado, was initiated in 2010 by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs Utilities. The study was conducted to provide a relative measure of which subwatersheds might constitute the most serious potential debris-flow hazards in the event of a large-scale wildfire and subsequent rainfall.
Study Area
| Publication type | Report |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | USGS Numbered Series |
| Title | Estimated probabilities and volumes of postwildfire debris flows—A prewildfire evaluation for the Pikes Peak area, El Paso and Teller Counties, Colorado |
| Series title | Scientific Investigations Report |
| Series number | 2012-5104 |
| DOI | 10.3133/sir20125104 |
| Year Published | 2012 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | U.S. Geological Survey |
| Publisher location | Reston, VA |
| Contributing office(s) | Colorado Water Science Center |
| Description | iv, 26 p. |
| Country | United States |
| State | Colorado |
| County | El Paso;Teller |
| Other Geospatial | Pikes Peak |
| Datum | North American Datum of 1983 |
| Projection | Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 13 North |
| Scale | 50000 |
| Online Only (Y/N) | Y |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |