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<br />.,. 19 - <br /> <br />(1) With torrential or "cloUdburst" type rainstorm, either area- <br /> <br />wide or only in the steep upper reaches of the watershed, rapid water <br /> <br />runoff occurs, generally accompanied by debris avalanching on the <br /> <br />upper slopes. The water and debris attain high velocities and tend <br /> <br />to become somewhat channeled, incorporating the coarse lag deposits <br /> <br />which accumulate at very steep angles of repose in the steep intermittent <br /> <br />stream beds of the lower parts of the high slopes. <br />(2)' The mixing of storm, runoff, soil, and rock debris forms a <br />viscous slurry of the approximate consistency of wet concrete mix. <br /> <br />When these mud avalanches reach the level of the mudf10w fan, they <br /> <br />generally become more definitely channeled, and follow one of the dis- <br /> <br />tributary channels across the steep part of the fan. A rather high <br /> <br />velocity is maintained by the channeling effect, the steep gradient, <br /> <br />and the pressure of the moving mass from above and behind. When this <br /> <br />stream of mud reaches the lower slopes, it spreads out, loses velocity, <br /> <br />deposits much of its coarse load, and may be in part discharged into <br /> <br />the Crystal River. <br /> <br />Some Hydrologic and Engineering G~ology Implications of Mud Floods <br />(1) One of the factors to b~ considered is the high kinetic energy <br />of the v~ry dense and high velocity stream of mud and/or flood water. <br />,This gives it the tremendous capacity for erosion, deposition and de- <br /> <br />struction that are earmarks of alpine mudflows. It should also be <br /> <br />noted that the regime of these oCcasional mudflows has no particular <br /> <br />relationship to the normal stream flow, and any control measures must <br /> <br />take this into account. Debris samples taken from the well-observed <br /> <br />Wrightwood, California mudflows of 1941 had a bulk density of 2.4 and <br />