Mudflow Landscape

Synonym: Debris flow landscape

In Chinese, this is also known as the ‘mountain torrent, crawling dragon, bubbling water or escaping mosquito’. It is a geo-environmental landscape associated with a torrent of solid matter, such as sand, mud and gravel, that occurs suddenly in a small drainage area (several square kilometres) in a mountainous region. Mudflows are geologic hazards with strong destructive force that occur rapidly. They can destroy and bury houses, roads, farmlands and other facilities, causing casualties and property losses. They usually occur in mountainous areas. Mudflows generally contain more than 15%, and sometimes up to 80%, solid material. The scouring, transportation and deposition processes of a mudflow are very rapid. Within a short period of time, a mudflow can transport thousand or even tens of thousands of cubic metres of solid materials as well as hundreds of boulders weighing thousands of tons. Debris flows can be divided into three sections: (1) the...