Yonggang Ge

Probability assessment of river blocking by debris flow associated with the Wenchuan Earthquake

This paper assesses the probability of the main stream in the Dujiangyan–Wenchuan reach of the Minjiang River becoming blocked by debris flows in response to the Wenchuan Earthquake of 12 May 2008, on the basis of analyses of remote sensing data and ground investigations. Background information of debris flow gullies was developed from field investigations and high-resolution remote sensing image interpretation, and was used to estimate the maximum discharge per unit width by means of the revised model of debris flow magnitude according to the situation after the Earthquake. Based on improved discrimination equations of river blocking induced by debris flow, 29 debris flow gullies were evaluated and classified as four probability levels: extreme high, high, moderate and low. The results show that most of the debris flow gullies were at or over moderate hazard level, accounting for 72.4% of the total area. The present results provide a scientific basis for the prevention, elusion and mitigation of debris flow hazards and will contribute to the reconstruction of an earthquake prone area.

Catastrophic debris flows on July 10th 2013 along the Min River in areas seriously-hit by the Wenchuan earthquake

Over 240 debris flows occurred in hill-slopes, gullies ( indicated those with single-channel) and watersheds (indicated those with tributaries and channels) on July 10th 2013 in the Wenchuan county, and caused 29 casualties and about 633×106 USD losses. This work aimed to analyze characteristics, hazards and causes of these events and explore mitigating measures based on field investigation and remote sensing images interpretation. The debris flows contained clay content of 0.1%∼3.56%, having densities of 1.72∼2.14 t/m3, velocities of 5.0∼12.7 m/s, discharges of 335∼2353 m3/s and sediment yields of 0.10∼1.26×106 m3, and also numerously occurred in large watersheds with the area over 10 km2. Large debris flows formed 3 hazard-chains in slopes, gullies, watersheds and rivers, which all evolved in dammed lakes and outburst flood, and 26 dammed lakes and 10 newly ones were generated along the rivers of Min and Yuzi. The remarkable spatial difference of loose solid materials accumulation and intense rainfall, with the cumulative of about or more than 150 mm and the hourly of over 16mm, caused debris flows in the sections from Yingxiu to Miansi and Gengda. The damages on buildings, reconstructions, highways, factories and hydro power station originated from the impacting, scouring, burying of debris flows, the submerging of dammed lake and the scouring of outburst flood, and the huge losses came from the ruinous destructions of control engineering works of debris flows as well as the irrational location and low-resistant capabilities of reconstructions. For hazards mitigating of debris flows in long term, the feasible measures for short term, including risk-reassessing of foregone and potential hazard sites, regional alarming system establishing and integrated control in disastrous sites, and middle-long term, including improving reconstruction standard, rationally disposing river channel bed rise and selecting appropriate reconstruction time and plans, were strongly suggested.

Geometrical feature analysis and disaster assessment of the Xinmo landslide based on remote sensing data

At 5:39 am on June 24, 2017, a landslide occurred in the village of Xinmo in Maoxian County, Aba Tibet and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture (Sichuan Province, Southwest China). On June 25, aerial images were acquired from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and a digital elevation model (DEM) was processed. Landslide geometrical features were then analyzed. These are the front and rear edge elevation, accumulation area and horizontal sliding distance. Then, the volume and the spatial distribution of the thickness of the deposit were calculated from the difference between the DEM available before the landslide, and the UAV-derived DEM collected after the landslide. Also, the disaster was assessed using high-resolution satellite images acquired before the landslide. These include QuickBird, Pleiades-1 and GF-2 images with spatial resolutions of 0.65 m, 0.70 m, and 0.80 m, respectively, and the aerial images acquired from the UAV after the landslide with a spatial resolution of 0.1 m. According to the analysis, the area of the landslide was 1.62 km2, and the volume of the landslide was 7.70 ± 1.46 million m3. The average thickness of the landslide accumulation was approximately 8 m. The landslide destroyed a total of 103 buildings. The area of destroyed farmlands was 2.53 ha, and the orchard area was reduced by 28.67 ha. A 2-km section of Songpinggou River was blocked and a 2.1-km section of township road No. 104 was buried. Constrained by the terrain conditions, densely populated and more economically developed areas in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River basin are mainly located in the bottom of the valleys. This is a dangerous area regarding landslide, debris flow and flash flood events. Therefore, in mountainous, high-risk disaster areas, it is important to carefully select residential sites to avoid a large number of casualties.

Case history of the disastrous debris flows of Tianmo Watershed in Bomi County, Tibet, China: Some mitigation suggestions

Debris flows and landslides, extensively developing and frequently occurring along Parlung Zangbo, seriously damage the Highway from Sichuan to Tiebt (G318) at Bomi County. The disastrous debris flows of the Tianmo Watershed on Sept. 4, 2007, July 25, 2010 and Sept. 4, 2010, blocked Parlung Zangbo River and produced dammed lakes, whose outburst flow made 50 m high terrace collapse at the opposite bank due to intense scouring on the foot of the terrace. As a result, the traffic was interrupted for 16 days in 2010 because that 900 m highway base was destructed and 430 m ruined. These debris flows were initiated by the glacial melting which was induced by continuous higher temperature and the following intensive rainfall, and expanded by moraines along channels and then blocked Parlung Zangbo. At the outlet of watershed, the density, velocity and peak discharge of debris flow was 2.06 t/m3, 12.7 m/s and 3334 m3/s, respectively. When the discharge at the outlet and the deposition volume into river exceeds 2125 m3/s and 126×103 m3, respectively, debris flow will completely blocked Parlung Zangbo. Moreover, if the shear stress of river flow on the foot of terrace and the inclination angel of terrace overruns 0. 377 N/m2 and 26°, respectively, the unconsolidated terrace will be eroded by outburst flow and collapse. It was strongly recommended for mitigation that identify and evade disastrous debris flows, reduce the junction angel of channels between river and watershed, build protecting wall for highway base and keep appropriate distance between highway and the edge of unconsolidated terrace.

Characteristics, causes and mitigation of catastrophic debris flow hazard on 21 July 2011 at the Longda Watershed of Songpan County, China

Debris flow is a common natural hazard in the mountain areas of Western China due to favorable natural conditions, and also exacerbated by mountainous exploitation activities. This paper concentrated on the characteristics, causes and mitigation of a catastrophic mine debris flow hazard at Longda Watershed in Songpan County, Sichuan Province, on 21 July 2011. This debris flow deposited in the front of the No.1 dam, silted the drainage channel for flood and then rushed into tailing sediment reservoir in the main channel and made the No.2 dam breached. The outburst debris flow blocked Fu River, formed dammed lake and generated outburst flood, which delivered heavy metals into the lower reaches of Fu River, polluted the drink water source of the population of over 1 million. The debris flow was characterized with a density of 1.87∼2.15 t/m3 and a clay content of less than 1.63%. The peak velocity and flux at Longda Gully was over 10.0∼10.9 m/s and 429.0∼446.0 m3/s, respectively, and the flux was about 700 m3/s in main channel, equaling to the flux of the probability of 1%. About 330,000m3 solid materials was transported by debris flow and deposited in the drainage tunnel (120,000∼130,000 m3), the front of No.1 dam (100,000 m3) and the mouth of the watershed (100,000∼110,000 m3), respectively. When the peak flux and magnitude of debris flow was more than 462 m3/s and 7,423 m3, respectively, it would block Fu River and produce a hazard chain which was composed of debris flow, dammed lake and outburst flood. Furthermore, the 21 July large-scale debris flow was triggered by rainstorm with an intensity of 21.2 mm/0.5 h and the solid materials of debris flow were provided by landslides, slope deposits, mining wastes and tailing sediments. The property losses were mainly originated from the silting of the drainage tunnel for flash flood but not for debris flow and the irrational location of tailing sediment reservoir. Therefore, the mitigation measures for mine debris flows were presented: (1) The disastrous debris flow watershed should be identified in planning period and prohibited from being taken as the site of mining factories; (2) The mining facilities are constructed at the safe areas or watersheds; (3) Scoria plots, concentrator factory and tailing sediment reservoir are constructed in safe areas where the protection measures be easily made against debris flows; (4) The appropriate system and plan of debris flow mitigation including monitoring, remote monitoring and early-warning and emergency plan is established; (5) The stability of waste dump and tailing sediment reservoir are monitored continuously to prevent mining debris flows.

Susceptibility and risk assessment of earthquake-induced landslides based on Landslide Response Units in the Subao River basin, China

Generally, pixels are the basic unit for assessment of landslide susceptibility. However, even if the results facilitate the comparison, a pixel-based analysis does not clearly illustrate the distribution relationships. To eliminate this deficiency, the concept of the Landslide Response Unit (LRU) is proposed in this study, for which adjacent pixels that have similar properties are combined as a basic unit for susceptibility assessment. The Subao River basin, seriously impacted by the Wenchuan Earthquake, was selected as the study area, and three factors including slope gradient, slope aspect, and slope shape, which have a significant impact on landslides, were chosen to divide the basin into 25,984 LRUs. Then topographic, geologic, and distance factors were applied for the landslide susceptibility evaluation. The logistic regression method was used to establish the susceptibility assessing model by analyzing 2,000 susceptible LRUs and 2,000 un-susceptible LRUs. The model accuracy was defined in terms of the ROC curve value and the κ value, 0.531 and 0.84, respectively. The susceptibility of landslides was divided into low, moderate, high, and very high in Subao River basin, and 73% of historical landslides and all four new landslides are in the highly susceptible zone and very highly susceptible zones. Finally, the LRUs with houses, farmlands, and roads prone to sliding and burial hazard were assessed separately. On the basis of considering the potential movement directions of the LRUs, the result found that 1,001 and 835 LRUs probably would be destroyed by slope sliding and landslide burial, respectively.

Characteristics, Hazards，and Mitigation of Debris Flows Along Min River after the Wenchuan Earthquake

After the Wenchuan Earthquake, debris flows frequently occurred and became the disastrous geo-hazard following this Earthquake at the seriously hit areas. This paper focused on characteristics,hazards, change and mitigation of the debris flows along Min River. The investigation and test data showed that debris flows were characterized by various types, low triggering rainfall with over 30 mm/24 h and over 10 mm/h, the density of 2.01–2.21 t/m3, high frequency and large magnitude. Debris flow mainly appeared in the watersheds of which area and geomorphologic index (θ) was less than 10 km2 and 6, respectively, accounting for 89 %, and the hazardous watersheds were featured with the area of 2–8 km2 and the θ of 2–4. Moreover, debris flows occurred in simultaneity when rainfall reached 20 mm/h and produced step-dammed lakes. Debris flows and the following dammed lakes resulted in rapid change of river channel, endangered towns and frequently interrupted traffic. Debris flows, especially those from the watersheds with over 10 km2,will continuously endanger reconstruction projects and local people in the future 10–15 years before they recover normal. After analyzing the loose materials amount and the potential destructed objects, the 23 hazardous watersheds are suggested to control and prevent. Finally, the mitigation measures, including risk identification and zoning, hazards prediction, remote-monitoring and early-warning, emergency mitigation plan, integrated control and river channel dredging, are presented for debris flow hazards mitigation.

Characteristics of rainfall responsible for debris flows in Wenchuan Earthquake area

The ability to forecast debris flows is important because of their frequent occurrence and potential for large-scale damage in the Wenchuan Earthquake-hit area. Accurate understanding of the characteristics of rainfall responsible for triggering debris flows is necessary for an effective early warning procedure. This study examined the general characteristics and spatiotemporal variation of rainfall events that responsible for debris flows. Analysis was performed on rainfall data extracted during 2008–2013. The results revealed that the rainfall thresholds for debris flows varied annually and showed tendency toward higher conditions required. The coefficient of variation of relevant rainfall events indicated that the characteristics of the rainstorms changed. In addition, the coefficient of deviation revealed the spatial variation of rainfall in subregions, which was attributed to differences of the local climatic conditions that control debris flow occurrence. The primary controlling rainfall indices for triggering debris flows were filtered, and the most suitable models for establishing rainfall thresholds were selected. Ultimately, the rainfall thresholds were obtained for each subregion within the study area.

Trace projection transformation: a new method for measurement of debris flow surface velocity fields

Spatiotemporal variation of velocity is important for debris flow dynamics. This paper presents a new method, the trace projection transformation, for accurate, non-contact measurement of a debris-flow surface velocity field based on a combination of dense optical flow and perspective projection transformation. The algorithm for interpreting and processing is implemented in C ++ and realized in Visual Studio 2012. The method allows quantitative analysis of flow motion through videos from various angles (camera positioned at the opposite direction of fluid motion). It yields the spatiotemporal distribution of surface velocity field at pixel level and thus provides a quantitative description of the surface processes. The trace projection transformation is superior to conventional measurement methods in that it obtains the full surface velocity field by computing the optical flow of all pixels. The result achieves a 90% accuracy of when comparing with the observed values. As a case study, the method is applied to the quantitative analysis of surface velocity field of a specific debris flow.

Characteristics and Prevention of the Debris Flows following Wenchuan Earthquake in Jushui River Basin, An County, China

After analysing the catastrophic debris flows on August 18, 2012, and on July 9, 2013, in Jushui River basin, An County, the Wenchuan Earthquake seriously striken areas, it was found that they were characterized by the clay soil content of 0.1~1.2%, the density of 1.68~2.03 t/m3, the discharges of 62.2 m3/s to 552.5 m3/s, and the sediment delivery modulus of 1.0~9.4 × 104 m3/km2. Due to intense rainstorm, many large debris flows produced hazard chain, involved in flash flood, debris flow, dammed lake, and outburst flood, and rose Jushui River channel about 1~4 m as well as amplified flood. The hazards and losses mainly originated from the burying and scouring of debris flows, flood inundating, and river channel rise. The prevention of debris flows is facing the intractable problems including potential hazard identification, overstandard debris flow control, control constructions destructing, and river channel rapid rise. Therefore, the prevention measures for the basin, including hazard identification and risk assessment, inhabitants relocating, monitoring and alarming network establishing, emergency plans founding, and river channel renovating, and the integrated control mode for watershed based on regulating the process of debris flow discharge, were recommended for mitigation.