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<br />-:4 - <br /> <br />of Western Colorado, approximately 35 airline miles south of Glenwood <br /> <br />Springs. The area of primary interest consists of the combined water- <br /> <br />sheds of Slate Creek and Carbonate Creek. This basin forms a south- <br /> <br />west-facing bowl having an area of approximately 4000 acres. The Slate <br /> <br />Creek drainage, which consists of only about 600 acres, exerts a signi- <br /> <br />ficant influence on the area because it heads in the rapidly wasting <br /> <br />Gallo Bluff area which feeds the Slate Creek mudflows. It seems quite <br /> <br />probable that in the geolog.ic past, Slate and Carbonate Creeks were <br /> <br />part of the same stream system which contributed to the early growth <br /> <br />of the major mudflow fan. The Slate-Carbonate drainage basin descends <br /> <br />from an elevation in excess of 12,000 feet at:the. basin rim to approxi- <br /> <br /> <br />mately 7,950 feet on the.Crysta1 River near Marble. N"p6rtion of the <br /> <br /> <br />area upstream from the mouth of Carbonate Creek is drained by small <br /> <br /> <br />tributaries of Lost Trail Creek. An area on the north side of Crystal <br /> <br />River and west of Slate Creek is drained by several small intermittent <br /> <br />streams which are direct tributaries of the Crystal River. The area <br /> <br />south of the Crystal River is drained by Yule Creek, Raspberry Creek, <br /> <br />Milton Creek and several short direct tributaries of the Crystal River. <br /> <br />ESSA precipitation charts indicate an annual rainfall of approximately <br />30 inches, with the major rainfall occurring during the peak thunder- <br /> <br />storm season of July and August. All mud floods which we have been <br /> <br />. .able to fix in time have occurred in July or August. <br /> <br />Bedrock geology of the area is complex, but the area is underlain <br /> <br />for the most part by strata of the Mancos Shale and Mesa Verde Forma- <br /> <br />tion, both of Cretaceous age. Structurally, these strata occur along <br /> <br />the northwest-trending axis of the broad Treasure Mountain Dome which <br /> <br />lies to the southeast. The Mancos Shale underlies most of the area, <br /> <br />,- <br />