FLOOD09816

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Forest- Fire Devegetation and Drainage Basin Adjustments in Mountenous Terrain
• Date: 1/1/1977
• Prepared By: Department of Geology University of New Mexico
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

Forest-Fire Devegetation and Basin Adjustments

INTENSE BURN,

BURNT MESA

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Figure 8. Erosion-pin data for transects in the intense-burn watershed, Burnt
Mesa. The plot represents changes in ground surface elevation
before and after the 1977-78 snowpack. The horizontal line re-
presents datum; deviation above the line depicts gain, deviation
below the line depicts loss.

filtration. In addition, needlecasts trap small particles which are transported
by overland flow and exert some influence on the microclimate of the soil by
decreasing insolation (Megahan and Molitor. 1975). Decreased insolation in-
fluences ground temperature Cl;Ild frost heaving of the soil. . The influence of
needlecast on erosion is demonstrated, in part, by comparing erosion measure-
ments in the intense- and moderate-burn watersheds of Burnt Mesa (fig. 6;
table 4). The moderate-burn watershed has an extensive cover of pine
needles. while the intense-burn essent.ially has no needlecast. Erosion rates
in the intense-burn watershed are almost double those in the moderate-burn
basin. Similar relationships occur in the Apache Springs area.

Burrowing animals also influence the amount of erosion over time. The
light-burn watershed of Burnt Mesa has higher erosion rates than the mode-
rate-burn watershed (fig. 6) because of a large and wide-spread gopher

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