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Rainfall-related debris flows in Carhuacocha Valley, Cordillera Huayhuash, Peru

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Abstract

Continuous heavy rainfall hit northern Peru in the second half of the 2008/2009 summer season. From the end of January to the beginning of March, the Cordillera Huayhuash experienced abnormally high precipitations that exceeded 270 mm. The antecedent rainfall, aggravated with a severe rainstorm of 20 mm on March 7 triggered a large debris flow in the upper Carhuacocha Valley early in the morning on March 8. The debris flow interrupted drainage from the upper part of the valley damming a lake in the narrow depression between the trough slope and the lateral moraine. As a result of the drainage interruption, water percolated through the moraine dam of Cangrajanca Lake where a secondary mass movement occurred in its inner slope. In September 2009, we mapped the debris flow and related landforms and estimated the total area and volume of both mass movements using geodetic measurements. About 104,000 m3 of sediments was moved from the trough slope towards the moraine from which 534,000 m3 flowed to Cangrajanca Lake subsequently. We analysed the rainfall conditions that triggered the debris flow using rainfall data from the nearby stations. We also compared the precipitation preceding the event with the rainfall thresholds for debris flow initiation.

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Abbreviations

a.m.:

Ante meridiem

ASL:

Above mean sea level

D :

Rainfall duration

DEM:

Digital elevation model

GPS:

Global positioning system

I :

Mean rainfall intensity

ID:

Intensity–duration

M :

Measuring distance

p.m.:

Post meridiem

ppm:

Parts per million

Q max :

Peak discharge

UTM:

Universal Transverse Mercator

V :

Total volume

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Acknowledgements

Fieldwork in 2009 was funded by the Czech Science Foundation (project no. 205/07/831) and by the Czech Ministry of Education (MSM 0021620831). The Agteca S.A. is thanked for providing compiled precipitation data for Peru.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Albertov 6, 128 43, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    Zbyněk Engel, Julius Česák & Vanessa Rios Escobar

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  1. Zbyněk Engel
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  2. Julius Česák
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  3. Vanessa Rios Escobar
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Correspondence to Zbyněk Engel.

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Engel, Z., Česák, J. & Escobar, V.R. Rainfall-related debris flows in Carhuacocha Valley, Cordillera Huayhuash, Peru. Landslides 8, 269–278 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-011-0259-7

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