Burned Watersheds - Buffalo Creek Alluvial Fan

The Buffalo Creek Fire in May 1996 burned 4,690 hectares in the mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado.  This wildfire lowered the erosion threshold of the watershed.  As a consequence of this wildfire, a 100-year rainstorm in July 1996 caused erosion upstream and deposition of this alluvial fan at the mouth of a tributary to Buffalo Creek.  Buffalo Creek is flowing to the right at the bottom of the photograph.