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To quantify the hydrophobic nature of soils, measurement of the contact angle between a water droplet and the soil can be made (Letey et a!. 1962), with angles exceeding or near 90 degrees being considered water repellent. DeBano et a!. (1970) conducted experiments burning organic litter on soils of different properties and found that after litter was burned, sand /------------- (dominant soil of Buffalo Creek watershed) had a contact angle of670 down to ~~t!~e~~~,_") depth; the uppermost layers had contact angles of almost 900 (water repellent), Water repellency in soils has been found in fire-affected areas of differing soil characteristics and vegetation type, Fire-induced water repellency in soils has been observed mostly in chaparral areas in southern California (Krammes and DeBano, 1965; DeBano and Krammes, 1966; DeBano et al" 1970), Several investigators have found water-repellent conditions to exist in fire-affected areas similar to Buffalo Creek, where pine forests where burned over sandy soils, Dyrness (1976) reported water repellency following fire in a lodgepole pine forest in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, Campbell et a!., (1977) found water repellency in the soil after fire in a Ponderosa pine forest in Arizona, Scott et a!., (1990) also found fire induced water-repellency in a pine-covered basin in South Africa, Infiltration and Runoff Knowledge of the properties of water-repellent soils can give insight into the dynamics of how a precipitation event over fire-affected slopes will influence surface runoff Erosion and runoff are often the results of lower infiltration rates and decreased water absorption particularly in regions receiving high intensity summer storms (Wells et aI., 1979), Many other investigators have come to the same conclusion, A severe burn in a Ponderosa pine forest in Arizona induced 8 vi Vi -I; Sy k7~