Discussions on the transformation conditions of Wangcang landslide-induced debris flow

Abstract

On August 14, 2020, it occurred a landslide-induced debris flow in Wangcang County, Sichuan Province, Southwest China, three people killed, and two houses destroyed. Behaved as a typical geohazard chain, it originated from a rockslide in marlstone, controlled initially by structural planes in rock mass, and evolved into a debris flow through successive geophysical process. This debris flow reached a run-out distance of 2050 m in the horizontal and 628 m in vertical direction. Remote sensing analysis, field survey, and laboratory tests were conducted to investigate its failure mechanism and dynamic characteristics. The results found that the source zone in the gully was 16.32 × 103 m2, with a volume of 317.52 × 103 m3. Interbedded marlstone with dense structural planes was one of controlling factors for the landslide failure. The continuous rainfall up to 315 mm during the previous 24 days and 32 mm at the date before the incident directly motivated rock slope failure. The contributions of topography, rock fragmentation, entrainment, and flow discharge for this process were discussed. It is found that changes in slope from 11° to 40° provided tremendous potential energy for the rock mass sliding with high speed and then disintegrating in traveling. Entrainment in the channel increased the fine content of the moving rocky mixture. In addition, the flow discharge changed the rheological properties of the mixture by adding seepage. These factors significantly affected the transformation process. Notably, the turning relief or confluence site may be accelerating this process. This research may provide references for further research on geohazard chains.