Log in

Relationships between debris flows and earth surface factors in Southwest China

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Environmental Geology

Abstract

Southwest China, including the Provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Chongqing, is a region with serious debris flow hazards, where 7,561 debris flow sites have been identified. Based on the data from these sites, the distribution regularity of debris flows was analyzed. Earth surface factors that may influence the formation of debris flows were analyzed from the viewpoints of energy and material conditions. Four major earth surface factors were selected: relative relief, stratigraphy, fault density and land-use conditions. With the support of GIS, the research region was divided into 125,177 grid cells and for each cell data for the four factors were collected. Based on this information, the distribution of quantity and the occurrence probability of debris flows and the role of each factor were statistically analyzed. The results should be helpful for the assessment of debris flow hazards and debris flow forecasting in the research region.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (Germany)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Cui P, Liu S, Tan W (2000) Progress of debris flow forecast in China. J Nat Disasters 9(2):10–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Li Y, Hu K, Cui P (2002) Morphology of basin of debris flow. J Mt Sci 20(1):1–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Muller JE (1973) Re-evaluation of the relationship of master streams and drainage basins: reply. Geol Soc Am Bull 84(9):3127–3130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patton PC (1988) Drainage basin morphomerty and floods. In: Baker VR, Kochel RC, Patton PC (eds) Flood geomorphology. Wiley, New York, pp 51–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Santos R, Menéndez Duarte R (2006) Topographic signature of debris flow dominated channels: implications for hazard assessment. In: Lorenzini G, Brebbia CA, Emmanouloudis D (eds) Monitoring, simulation, prevention and remediation of dense and debris flows. WIT Press, Southampton, pp 301–310

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wei F, **e H (1999) Model of fuzzy information for debris flow risk factor zoning. J Chin Soil Water Conserv 30(4):273–277 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Willgoose GA (1994) Physical explanation for an observed area-slope-elevation relationship for catchements with declining relief. Water Resour Res 30(2):151–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Knowledge Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX3-SW-352).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fangqiang Wei.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wei, F., Gao, K., Hu, K. et al. Relationships between debris flows and earth surface factors in Southwest China. Environ Geol 55, 619–627 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-1012-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-1012-3

Keywords

Navigation