Geomorphic response detection and quantification in a steep forested torrent

Abstract

Extreme events such as flash floods and debris flows are frequent phenomena that occur in steep torrential catchments; these kinds of events can cause notable geomorphic changes. Repeated terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) surveys were performed in a steep forested catchment of the Kuzlovec torrent (drainage area ~0.7km2) in central Slovenia, where a ~200-m long section of the torrent was scanned in 2013, 2014, and 2015. The main aim of this study was to perform the geomorphic response detection in the torrent due to hydro-meteorological events of different magnitudes. After applying several pre-processing steps, digital terrain models (DTMs) with a cell resolution of 5cm were produced. The geomorphic change detection was performed using the DTM of Difference approach (DoD). Several above-average flow events occurred in the period from 2013 to 2015 (some of them can be regarded as floods). The 2014 August extreme flash flood that was initiated by the rainfall event with a return period exceeding 100years, where maximum 1-minute rainfall intensities were up to 288mm/h, led to erosion rates of an order of magnitude higher than average annual erosion rates. Moreover, the analysis of the geomorphic changes shows that the August 2014 flash flood caused intense sediment transport processes that resulted in the changes at the location of the main stream channel thalweg and reduced channel roughness. The unit stream power for the scanned section of the torrent was assessed to be approximately 500W/m2 during this extreme event. This is above the thresholds that were suggested to differentiate between the situations where significant geomorphic changes can occur and the situations where geomorphic changes are not notable.