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New insights into the delayed initiation of a debris flow in southwest China

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Abstract

On 6 July 2020, 3 h 40 min after rainfall stopped, a delayed debris-flow disaster occurred due to colluvium deposits in a hollow region (CDH) in the Chenghuangmiao Gully, Sichuan Province, China, resulting in 4 deaths and 27 injuries. This study explores the initiation process of the delayed debris flow and the cause for the delay. Field investigations, catchment geometry interpretation, laboratory tests, theoretical calculations, and fluid–solid coupling numerical simulation were performed to obtain landslide parameters and understand the mechanisms of the event. Results show that (1) the event was a giant low-frequency viscous debris flow. (2) It was initiated by the delayed landslide process under the influence of back-end confluence. (3) The debris-flow discharge in the main gully increased over 19.5 min. (4) The seepage process inside the CDH continued for 3 h 20 min after the rainfall stopped before the pore pressure and reduction in strength were sufficient to initiate the debris flow. This research provides new insights on delayed debris-flow disasters and can be a reference for improving disaster management systems, especially monitoring and early warning systems, thereby avoiding future casualties.

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source of the Chenghuangmiao Gully; b transition area; c accumulation area

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source of the debris-flow gully; a location of the CDH landslide at the source of the gully; b trailing edge of the CDH landslide at the source of the gully and the slide bed; c confluence outlet; d bedrock on the slide bed; e landslide plan; f landslide profile; g landslide cross section

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Data availability

The datasets used or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

The codes used during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China [Grant Number 2018YFC1505202]; the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant Number U20A20110]; and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS [Grant Number 2020367].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab of Mountain Hazards and Surface Process, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment (IMHE), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Chengdu, 610041, China

    Taixin Peng, Ningsheng Chen, Guisheng Hu & Shufeng Tian

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing, 100049, China

    Taixin Peng & Shufeng Tian

  3. Academy of Plateau Science and Sustainability, Xining, 810016, China

    Ningsheng Chen & Guisheng Hu

  4. School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410075, China

    Zheng Han

  5. State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, College of Water Resources and Hydropower, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Enlong Liu

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  1. Taixin Peng
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Correspondence to Ningsheng Chen.

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Peng, T., Chen, N., Hu, G. et al. New insights into the delayed initiation of a debris flow in southwest China. Nat Hazards 108, 2855–2877 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-021-04803-9

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