Journal
ENGINEERING GEOLOGY
Volume 194, Issue -, Pages 52-61Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.enggeo.2014.10.021
Keywords
Debris flow; Erosion; Landslide dam; Wenjia Gully
Funding
- Chinese Academy of Sciences [KZZD-EW-05-01]
- Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment [SDSQB-2013-01]
- West Light Foundation of Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Debris flows are typically caused by natural terrain landslides triggered by intense rainfalls. If an incoming mountain torrent flows along sloping channels at high velocity, huge amounts of sediment (from landslide dams and eroded channel beds) will be entrained into the flows to form debris flows. It is likely that large debris flows are due to the failure of many landslide dams of different scales (due to bank slides or collapses), bed erosion, and solid transport. The catastrophic debris flows that occurred in Wenjia Gully (Wenchuan Earthquake Area), China on August 13, 2010 (two years after the mega earthquake), were caused by intense rainfall and the serious erosion of sloping channels. In the wake of the incident, experimental tests were conducted to better understand the process of sediment erosion and entrainment on the channel bed and the formation of debris flows. The results show that the bed erosion, bank collapses and channel widening caused by erosion accounted for the triggering and scale amplification of downstream debris flows in the Wenjia Gully event. This study illustrates how the hazardous process of natural debris flows can begin several kilometers upstream, and how such a complex cascade of geomorphic events (failure of landslide dams and erosion of the sloping bed) can lead to catastrophic discharges. Neglecting recognition of these hazardous geomorphic and hydrodynamic processes may result in high cost. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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