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Human-planted alder trees as a protection against debris flows (a dendrochronological study from the Moxi Basin, Southwestern China)

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Geochronometria

An Erratum to this article was published on 24 June 2013

Abstract

Large debris flows have destroyed the infrastructure and caused the death of people living in the Moxi Basin (Sichuan Province, Southwestern China). Inhabitants of the Moxi Basin live on the flat surfaces of debris-flow fans, which are also attractive for farming. During the monsoon season debris flows are being formed above the fans. Debris flows can destroy the houses of any people living within the fan surfaces. In order to prevent the adverse effects of flows, people plant alder trees (Alnus nepalensis) at the mouths of debris flow gullies running above debris flow fans. Alders are able to capture the debris transported during flow events. Trees are well adapted to surviving in conditions of environmental stress connected with abrupt transport and deposition of sediment from debris flows. Numerous wounds, tilting and bending of alder trees caused by debris flows only very rarely cause the death of trees. By dating scars and dating the time of alder tilting (through the analysis of annual rings), we have determined the frequency of debris flows occurring at the mouth of the Daozhao valley. In 1980–2012 within the studied debris-flow fan and the Daozhao gully, 2 large debris flow events occurred (1996, 2005) and some smaller events were probably recorded every 2–3 years.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Reconstructing Environmental Change, Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia, ul. Będzińska 60, 41-200, Sosnowiec, Poland

    Ireneusz Malik, Małgorzata Wistuba, Wojciech Pilorz & Beata Woskowicz-Ślęzak

  2. Chengdu Centre of China Geological Survey, State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, No. 2 of N-3-Section of First Ring Road, Chengdu, China

    Ireneusz Malik, Yongbo Tie & Piotr Owczarek

  3. Institute of Geography and Regional Development, University of Wrocław, pl. Uniwersytecki 1, 50-137, Wrocław, Poland

    Piotr Owczarek

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  1. Ireneusz Malik
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  2. Yongbo Tie
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  4. Małgorzata Wistuba
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  5. Wojciech Pilorz
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  6. Beata Woskowicz-Ślęzak
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Correspondence to Ireneusz Malik.

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Malik, I., Tie, Y., Owczarek, P. et al. Human-planted alder trees as a protection against debris flows (a dendrochronological study from the Moxi Basin, Southwestern China). Geochron 40, 208–216 (2013). https://doi.org/10.2478/s13386-013-0113-x

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