Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1987 The Importance of Hollows in Debris Flow
1987 The Importance of Hollows in Debris Flow
Steven L. Reneau
William E. Dietrich
Department of Geology and Geophysics
University of California at Berkeley
Berkeley, California 94720
ABSTRACT
Hollows are the concave-out portions of hillslopes not occupied by channels. The
topographic convergence in hollows forces colluvial debris to accumulate and causes
shallow subsurface runoff to be concentrated during storms. Consequently, hollows are
more susceptible to landsliding than side slopes and constitute important mappable
source areas of debris flows. Hollows can be extremely subtle topographic features that
require recognition in the Held; these subtle hollows are commonly tributary to larger
hollows, and greatly increase the density of mappable debris flow sources. In a study
area in Marin County, California, hollows are spaced 20 to 60 m apart along the slope,
resulting in a density of 25 to 35 km of hollow axis per km2. Even the subtle hollows can
produce debris flows capable of destroying houses, particularly when large trees are
carried by a flow. Mitigation measures that focus on draining the main hollow axis may
be inadequate because of the destructive ability of debris flows shed from small tributary
swales and from side slopes. Road runoff discharged onto hollows can trigger landslid-
ing and gullying, but this problem can be prevented by extending culverts downslope to
stream channels. Along the drainage network, from subtle tributary hollows to major
hollows, and to first-order channels where many additional hollows enter, the recur-
rence interval of debris flow events probably systematically decreases as the number of
upslope sources increases, perhaps reaching the lowest recurrence interval on second-
order channels. Farther downstream, debris flows may occur less frequently. A greater
emphasis on hollows as debris flow source areas and as paths for flows from upslope
should make a significant contribution toward identifying the hazard to existing struc-
tures and toward improved siting of new development.
INTRODUCTION
The importance of hollows as mappable sources of debris research that has demonstrated the significance of hollows as
flows on steep, soil-mantled hillslopes is becoming increasingly sources of debris flows, and discuss research concerned with
recognized in many regions where land-use pressures are leading quantification of the debris flow hazard. Three case studies are
to housing construction in narrow river valleys and on the sur- then presented that address several aspects of debris flow hazards
rounding slopes. The debris flows are generally produced during and that illustrate the importance of identifying even the subtlest
high-intensity rainstorms by the rapid mobilization of shallow hollows on hillslopes. Finally, some of the practical implications
landslides in colluvial soils (Fig. 1). Hollows are sites of long-term of our review and case history analyses are discussed.
accumulation of colluvial debris and of convergence of shallow
ground water during storms (e.g., Dietrich and Dunne, 1978; HOLLOWS AND DEBRIS FLOWS
Okunishi and Iida, 1981), both of which contribute to the high Hack and Goodlett (1960) and Hack (1965) proposed a
susceptibility of these sites to failure. Here we briefly review three-fold division of hillslopes into hollows, noses, and side
165
166 Reneau and Dietrich
Figure 2 (this and facing page). Examples of landscapes that are regularly divided into hollows and
noses. A, Idealized drawing of hillslopes in Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and West Virginia; from
Hack (1965, Fig. 4). Hollows drain sides of each valley; channel occurs where slope from ridge crest to
stream channel becomes sufficiently long, as at H near right side of figure. B, Topographic maps of four
valleys in areas of different relief, Shenandoah Valley; from Hack (1965, Fig. 9). Hollows indicated by
stippled pattern. Valley A underlain by sandstone; valley B, by carbonate rocks; valleys C and D, by
shale. C, Photograph of clearcut slopes, Mt. Peter and Cedar Creek drainage, Siuslaw River basin,
central Oregon Coast Range. Bedrock is Eocene Tyee Sandstone. Hollows are primary source of debris
flows in this area (Swanson and others, 1981). D, Oblique aerial photograph of grassy slopes of Bolinas
Ridge, Marin County, California; San Francisco Bay in background. Bedrock beneath ridge is green-
stone of Franciscan assemblage.
168 Reneau and Dietrich
of water and colluvial debris are convergent, parallel, or diver- sources in terrain characterized by massive bedrock and a regular
gent; these distinctions formed the basis for Hack's definitions of division of the topography into drainages and interfluves, and less
hollows, side slopes, and noses. This terminology has also re- important where the bedrock is less uniform and the topography
ceived wide usage in geomorphic literature. is correspondingly less regular. In interbedded flows, tuffs, and
Prior to 1960, the landslide literature contains rare reference volcanic breccias of the central Oregon Cascade Range, Marion
to topographic concavities as preferred sites of failure. Our pres- (1981) found that side slopes are more frequent sites of landslide
ent understanding of the importance of hollows as sources of initiation than hollows, perhaps due to these slopes occupying a
debris flows originates with the work of Hack and Goodlett higher percentage of the total landscape. On stratified sandstone
(1960) in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. The impor- and shale bedrock in the Appalachian Plateau of West Virginia,
tance of hollows in the Appalachians and the Adirondacks has Jacobson (1985) found that shallow landslides in colluvium tend
been confirmed by many other workers, including Williams and to initiate along benches on side slopes, and not along hollow
Guy (1971, 1973), Woodruff (1971), Clark (1973), Bogucki axes. Along the slopes of river valleys in the Appalachian Plateau
(1976, 1977), Lessing and others (1976), and Pomeroy (1984). of Pennsylvania, also with stratified sandstone and shale bedrock,
Much of this work was spurred by the widespread landsliding Pomeroy (1981,1982) found that the topography lacks a regular
from Hurricane Camille in 1969 and the consequent recognition division into hollows and noses, and that hollows are correspond-
that debris flows or debris avalanches are a major geologic hazard ingly of little importance as debris flow source areas. Nearby,
in eastern North America. however, where the slopes are steeper and sandstone predomi-
nates, hollows are the most important source (Pomeroy, 1984).
Similar understanding of the importance of hollows as de-
bris flow sources in western North America developed from re- Much progress has been made toward understanding the
search on landslide problems on logged and unlogged slopes in debris flow hazard and toward reducing the destruction caused by
coastal Alaska (Swanston, 1967, 1969), British Columbia these flows. On a regional level, the relative hazard from debris
(O'Loughlin, 1972), and the Oregon Coast Range (Pierson, flows on different slopes can be identified based on studies that
1977; Dietrich and Dunne, 1978; Swanson and others, 1981; correlate the location of previous landslides with soil and topo-
Swanson and Roach, 1985), on chaparral slopes in southern graphic factors. For example, Hollingsworth and Kovacs (1981)
California (Kojan and others, 1972; Hollingsworth and Kovacs, have proposed that the finer the soil texture, the gentler the slope
1981), and in coastal scrub and grasslands in central California on which debris flows are initiated in the Santa Monica Moun-
(Lehre, 1981, 1982). Much attention has recently been focused tains of southern California. For portions of Marin and Sonoma
on hollows as debris flow source areas since a major, destructive Counties in central California, Ellen and others (1983) have pre-
storm in the San Francisco Bay area in January 1982 (Smith and pared a regional map delineating slopes susceptible to debris
Hart, 1982; Shiemon and Wright, 1983; Reneau and others, flows. They used interpretation of aerial photographs to divide
1984; Sitar and Johnson, 1984; Smith, 1984; Reneau and Die- the region into different terrain types, and used detailed field
trich, 1985,1987; Johnson and Sitar, 1986; Shiemon and others, studies of selected areas to document the types of shallow land-
this volume; Ellen and Wieczorek, 1987), and since the destruc- slides in each unit (e.g., debris flows versus earthflows); they
tive pulses of debris flows in Utah in 1983 (e.g., Anderson and believe that debris flows are most common in areas of massive,
others, 1985; Keaton and others, 1985). resistant bedrock, where there is a regular division of hillslopes
into drainages and interfluves.
The studies cited above clearly establish that, where shallow
landslides in colluvium occur, hollows can be the primary sources Important research is being conducted by Japanese workers
for debris flows. The importance of hollows may vary, however, to allow the prediction of potential failure sites on a given hill-
as a function of the geologic and climatic setting in different areas, slope. A recent summary of this research is provided by Oyagi
and may show variations within a given region. Numerous stud- (1984), and two examples from Japan are mentioned here.
ies have documented the tendency of rapid debris flows to be Okimura (1983) has used a two-dimensional stability analysis to
produced by shallow landslides in cohesionless, sandy, or gravelly predict the least-stable portion of a slope, incorporating longitud-
soils, and of slower earthflows to be produced by landslides in inal variations in slope gradient and soil thickness. Potential
clay-rich soils. In addition, in areas where debris flows occur, landslide size can be predicted with this method. Okimura and
significant variations in fine-scale texture of the topography may Kawatani (1987) coupled a three-dimensional ground-water-
exist that influence the relative importance of hollows in compar- flow model with an infinite slope stability analysis to predict the
ison to other topographic positions. In general, it appears that the relative stability of 10- by 10-m square units of hillslope; soil
greater the area of a hillslope or an unchanneled valley occupied thickness and hydraulic conductivity were held constant in this
by side slopes, the less important hollows are as sources of debris method. Despite the numerous assumptions inherent in such
flows. A few examples are given below that illustrate how the models, both analyses showed reasonable correspondence be-
importance of hollows as sites of debris flow initiation may vary tween the predicted sites of lowest stability and observed land-
in different areas. slide scars. Models of this kind should eventually prove to be of
great value in predicting the stability of individual hillslopes in
In Marin County, California, Ellen and others (1987) have developed areas.
reported that hollows are relatively more important as debris flow
Importance of hollows in debris flow studies 169
'2.0
N 5.3
3.3
5.3
17/
3.3
3.4
2.9 j
I i 2.9
10
Figure 7. Cross sections across debris flow path, showing estimated flow
surface and superelevation of flow around bend in swale. Solid dots
indicate flow depths determined from mudlines on standing trees on or
10m near each section. Eroded areas shown by stippled pattern. South side of
Section 5 includes lower end of 1982 landslide scar; older landslide scar
bowl present on north side. Apparent cross-sectional area of Section 7 is
Figure 6. Map of Madrone Park Circle debris flow path, showing sur- anomalously large; flow depth here may be overestimated.
veyed cross sections and flow velocities calculated from mudlines on
standing trees. Trees indicated by inverted triangles, with calculated ve-
locity given in meters per second. Centerline of Section 5 is at 223-ft
contour; foundation of house shown below Section 10.
0-200 6 2 _ 6 2 1 1 18
200-500 1 - - 3 2 3 5 14
500-1,000 - 1 4 - 2 2 1 10
1,000-2,000 - - 1 - 3 2 2 8
2,000-3,000 - - 1 1 - 2 - 4
3,000-4,000 - 1 1 - - - - 2
4,000-5,000 1 - - - - - - 1
Total Weight 5,391 3,862 10,045 3,599 6,564 9,679 4,665 43,805
2
Area (ro )* 87 87 87 91 94 87 84 617
Multiple laurel stems growing from a single base were counted as one
tree.
*5- by 20-m belt transect on slope converted to horizontal area.
5.3 m/sec, and possibly as high as 10 m/sec. The velocity of the to quantify the forest composition, the heights and diameters of
flow in the center undoubtedly varied more gradually than in- all trees larger than 5 cm in diameter were measured in seven 5-
ferred from the fitted lines to the data, perhaps having a constant by 20-m belt transects in the undisturbed forest; for each tree the
velocity "plug" as predicted in Bingham materials (e.g., Johnson, approximate weight was determined using equations derived for
1970,1984). Integration of the curves in Figure 8 across Sections estimating standing tree biomass (Pillsbury and Stephens, 1978;
6 and 7 yielded a minimum average velocity for the entire flow of N. H. Pillsbury, unpublished data). These equations exclude
about 4 m/sec, and a maximum average velocity of about 6 below-ground biomass and branches smaller than 5 cm in diame-
m/sec. ter, and as such provide conservative estimates of total woody
The curvature of the debris flow path produced a superele- debris weight.
vation of the flow surface at Sections 5 through 9, as shown in From the vegetation transect data, we estimate that about
Figure 7, and we used this to provide an additional estimate of 44,000 lb, or 20 metric tonnes, of woody debris is present in a
the average flow velocity, as described by Johnson (1984): roughly 600-m2 area of this hardwood forest, as summarized in
Table 1. California laurels provide 65 percent of this weight, and
V = (r g cosd tana)14. (2) coast live oaks the remaining 35 percent. In the transects, single
laurels and oaks reach an estimated 2,155 and 3,765 lb, respec-
where r is the radius of curvature of the bend, a is the cross-flow tively, and one clump of three laurel stems growing from a single
slope, and 6 is the channel slope. This yielded a mean velocity for base has a combined weight of 4,645 lb. The largest trees are
the entire flow of 4.7 to greater than 10 m/sec, depending on 50 cm in diameter; the maximum height, 19 m.
how the radius of curvature was measured. We found equation The number and weight of trees carried by this debris flow
(2) difficult to employ because of the rapidly varying radius of were clearly substantial, and despite the short distance traveled,
curvature; hence the velocity estimate from equation (1) based on these trees likely played a major role in damaging the house. This
the mudlines around trees is probably more accurate. As dis- is also indicated by scars on standing trees 4 m above the ground,
cussed by Costa (1984), neither method of back-calculating de- resulting from the impact of trees either carried or toppled by the
bris flow velocities has yet been verified with measured velocities, flow. The house was elevated above the ground on stilts, and it
although it is encouraging that both methods provided roughly may well have been the force of the trees rather than the flow
similar estimates here. itself that dislodged the house.
The flow carried woody debris removed from about 600 m 2 This debris flow is especially illustrative of the subtleties of
of forest: 60 percent of the area constituted the landslide scar and the topography that need to be recognized in order to decrease
40 percent the central portion of the debris flow path. Vegetation the hazard that these flows present to development. In our review
measurements were made to estimate the nature and weight of above, we emphasized that recognition of potential source areas
this component of the flow. An examination of aerial photo- and delineation of probable debris flow paths are the two most
graphs taken before and after the storm, both 1:20,000 scale practical needs to minimize the debris flow hazard. The house on
stereopairs and high-quality 1:1,000 scale enlargements, indicated Madrone Park Circle was built with considerable care given in
that the forest composition within the scar and debris flow path order to avoid disruption of the slope; no road was excavated,
was comparable to that remaining in the adjacent forest. In order and a small tram was used to reach the house from the road
Importance of hollows in debris flow studies 173
Figure 9. Oblique aerial photograph of western portion of Glenwood subdivision, San Rafael, on floor
of fourth-order valley.
below. Unfortunately, the house was built directly in the axis of a abundant shallow landsliding, as discussed by Smith and Hart
small but distinct swale that could both produce a debris flow and (1982). Two houses built along a third-order channel were de-
serve as the path for any debris flow off the upper slope (Fig. 4). stroyed by a debris flow at a site where damage from another
Developed areas in southern Marin County had been damaged flow had occurred in 1973. The 1973 flow is discussed by John-
by debris flows on many occasions in the last several decades son (1984). As at the Mill Valley site, a dense hardwood forest
(Rice and others, 1976), and the susceptibility of this specific obscures the finest detail of the topography, although a regular
slope to shallow landslides in the colluvium could be seen by the division of the topography into drainages and interfluves is clear,
presence of two much older landslide scars nearby, distinguisha- as shown in Figure 9. The landslide scars in this area are being
ble on the detailed topographic map (Fig. 4). The swale is not studied in detail to document their distribution and characteris-
shown on the 1:24,000-scale U.S. Geological Survey topographic tics, and to determine the depositional history of colluvium in
map, and neither the swale nor the older scars would be visible hollows (Reneau and others, 1986; Reneau and Dietrich, 1987).
through the dense forest canopy if standard aerial photographs Significantly, only about one-third of the 1982 landslides origi-
were employed to map the most hazardous areas. Clearly, for
nated along the axes of major hollows that could be recognized
purposes of mapping, aerial photographs in forested areas are
on the l:24,000-scale U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps.
inadequate, and the hillslopes surrounding potential develop-
One-half the remainder originated along the axes of subtle hol-
ments must be carefully inspected on the ground to identify subtle
topographic concavities that may be source areas or paths for lows, comparable to the swale above the Mill Valley house or the
debris flows. even subtler concavity where the Mill Valley scar is located
(Fig. 4), and the rest originated from side slopes.
Figure 10 is a plan map of a relatively large unchanneled
Glenwood Subdivision, San Rafael basin above the Glenwood subdivision that intersects a first-order
channel, showing a branching network of hollows and tneToca-
During the January 1982 storm, the drainage basin above tion of landslide scars oFvarying age. The bedrock is sandstone
the Glenwood subdivision in eastern San Rafael experienced and shale of the Franciscan assemblage. The lower portion of the
174 Reneau and Dietrich
PRE-1982 SCARS
f\ DISTINCT, VEGETATED
DEGRADED
VAGUE
main hollow failed in January 1982, mobilizing about 550 m 3 of size without any scars. The presence of scars at different longitud-
colluvium as a debris flow. The failure at this site may have been inal positions along a single hollow (Fig. 10) indicates that, for
strongly influenced by the colluvial stratigraphy, with prominent purposes of stability evaluations, hollows should be envisioned as
textural variations existing both longitudinally and vertically. At consisting of multiple potential debris flow sources. Failure along
the headscarp of this scar, the failure plane was 2.7 m deep and a portion of a hollow does not preclude subsequent failure else-
the total colluvium thickness was about 5.5 m, consisting of a where in the basin.
3-m-thick layer of coarse openwork gravel overlain by a denser, In the Glenwood area, extensive areas of side slope are rare,
finer textured colluvium with matrix-supported gravel. The lower and instead most hillsjopes are interrupted by hollows spaced
gravel layer pinched out downslope. Subsurface flow within the about 20 to 60 m apart. For example, the maximum spacing in
gravel, derived from the bedrock (e.g., Wilson and others, 1984; the Chockstone basin (Fig. 10), measured near the ridge crest, is
Wilson and Dietrich, 1985) or perched on the bedrock-colluvium about 40 m. Casual observations elsewhere in Marin County
interface, may have produced excessive pore pressures at the base suggest that a fairly regular spacing between hollows is common.
of the denser, upper colluvium, and may have been responsible Documentation of a characteristic hollow spacing in an area may
for failure. Similarly, Hayes (1985) has measured excessive pore provide a useful measure of the topography to guide the location
pressures in a hollow in the Santa Cruz Mountains within a andmapping of potential debris flow source areas. An additional
discontinuous basal sand of relatively high hydraulic conductiv- measure of the topography is the swale density, which we define
ity. Such coarse basal layers often do not exist, but where present as the total length of hollow axes in a basin divided by the total
they could play a major role in determining the stability-durjng catchment area. This is analogous to standard drainage densities
storms. that measure the length of stream channels in an area. For se-
lected unchanneled basins in the Glenwood area, we have mea-
In the basin shown in Figure 10, there are two subtle swales
sured swale densities of 25 to 35 km/km 2 , with the 29 k m / k m 2
tributary to the main hollow, and all of the swales contain pre-
density of the Chockstone basin (Fig. 10) being typical. These
1982 landslide scars. These older scars can be seen only by direct
densities provide a quantitative measure of the extent of potential
field observation. As shown at the Mill Valley site, the older scars
debris flow sources in this area.
further demonstrate the recurrent nature of landsliding from these
slopes and the importance of the smaller swales as source areas As discussed earlier, the recurrence interval for a debris flow
for debris flows. Although the density of scars in this basin is high event should decrease as upslope catchment area increases, being
compared to most in the area, it is rare to find a basin of similar lower at the base of a large unchanneled basin than along a
Importance of hollows in debris flow studies 175
i
randomly distributed through time, the probability of debris flow
occurrence for catchments of varying size can be estimated by
determining the number of upslope source areas and the probabil-
ity of failure in each. The probability is given by:
I
/=!-(! -5,)(l-52)...(l-*), (31
-O
where s, is the probability of a debris flow from source i, and n is Q
the total number of sources in the catchment. If each source has
01
the same R.I., then equation (3) reduces to:
2
P=\-(\ -s)". (4)
8
c
Where n is much smaller than the R.I., equation (4) can be =3
O
closely approximated by: O)
DC
most
hazardous
low
500 m
j
Figure 12. Topographic map of part of Marin Headlands, immediately north of Golden Gate Bridge.
Dashed lines indicate main roads; dotted lines, hollow axes; heavy solid lines, gullies; hachured line,
landslide scarp. Hollow axes mapped using 1:24,000-scale San Francisco North 7.5-min Quadrangle,
supplemented by available roadcut exposures of colluvial deposits; many hollows not crossed by roads
are probably not shown; lower end of each hollow could not always be determined. Gullies mapped
from 1982 aerial photographs. Contour interval = 100 ft. A indicates location of Figure 13; B, location
of Figure 14; C, location of Figure 15.
sufficient to trigger failure. Despite the uncertainties involved, the lands just north of the Golden Gate Bridge (Figs. 12, 13, 14).
increasing frequency of debris flows with increasing catchment Exceptional exposures of colluvium, some exceeding 5 m in
size for low order catchments (Fig. 11) is clearly shown by these thickness, are located along this road beneath topographic con-
calculations, and the order-of-magnitude estimates are probably cavities (Fig. 15). These deposits were partially mapped by
accurate. L. E. Benda and T. Dunne (personal communication) Schlocker and others (1958) and described by Schlocker (1974).
are also using a similar probabilistic approach to calculate the The exposures are all on slopes that feed into first- or higher order
frequency of scouring events in channels in the Oregon Coast channels, and are located a horizontal distance of roughly 30 to
Range. To predict the decreasing frequency along higher order 180 m below the ridge crest. The colluvium is predominantly
channels, factors such as channel gradient, valley floor width, unstratified angular gravel set in a finer textured matrix, derived
debris flow volume, and tributary junction angles need to be from well-bedded chert and greenstone of the Franciscan assem-
addressed (e.g., Lips and others, 1984; Benda, 1985). blage. In at least one hollow, the basal colluvium near the channel
head is cemented to the underlying bedrock. A gully has formed
above the road in one hollow, cutting a notch into the underlying
Marin Headlands
bedrock. Farther north along the road, a similar notch-shaped cut
is exposed at the base of a colluvial deposit, suggesting that fluvial
Over at least the last 30 yr, but particularly since the Janu-
incision of bedrock when a colluvial fill is absent has probably
ary 1982 storm, road runoff has produced extensive gullying in
been an important process eroding the bedrock.
colluvial deposits below the main road along the Marin Head-
Importance of hollows in debris flow studies 177
Figure 13. Photograph of hillslopes in Marin Headlands (location A in Figure 14. Deep gullies in colluvial deposits below main road in Marin
Fig. 12). Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco in upper right. Areas of Headlands (location B in Fig. 12). Note culvert to left of main gullies,
darker vegetation crudely correspond to areas of thick colluvium, and where road runoff is discharged onto slope; roadcut above culvert ex-
grassy slopes are underlain by relatively thin soil. Arrows point to two poses colluvial deposit beneath subtle hollow.
gullies in colluvium below road.
500 the relative risk increases as the catchment area above individual
structures increases, a s illustrated in Figure 11. Although trench-
ing and draining major swales m a y b e an effective technique to
^S. * stabilize specific deposits, the subtle swales and side slopes feeding
300 *\*
\ + into these hollows remain possible source areas.
>* Hollows are important not only as sources of debris flows,
but also as conduits that funnel flows off the upper slopes, regard-
^^^ o
> less of where the failure is located. Identification of natural drain-
c ages thus forms the basis for the debris flow susceptibility maps of
CD c
Smith ( 1 9 8 4 , 1 9 8 7 ) . As shown in the Mill Valley and San Rafael
V * * A case studies, and also noted by Hollingsworth and Kovacs
J
"o
X
100 -
N (1981), these concavities can be extremely subtle features identi-
fied only by careful inspection in the field; identification relying
on standard topographic maps or using aerial photography, par-
ticularly where a forest canopy exists, is inadequate.
Setbacks from channels need to b e adequate to accommo-
50 i 1 1 1 1ii i i i i date flows that m a y reach 2 0 m or more in width, as demon-
0.1 0.3 0.5 1.0 strated by the Mill Valley debris flow. In addition, t w o debris
flows in first- and second-order channels that are described in
Hollow gradient (m/m) detail in Ellen (1987) also locally exceed 2 0 m in width. Smith
a n d Hart (1982) noted that the tendency of flows to bank around
Figure 16. Graph of maximum hollow length versus average hollow bends and produce a superelevation of the flow surface, as seen at
gradient, from Dietrich and others (1986, Fig. 5). Solid circles indicate the Mill Valley site, widens the hazardous zone. T h e height of this
hollows in Marin County, and remaining symbols indicate hollows in superelevation increases with increasing flow velocity a n d is
other areas described in Dietrich and others (1986). greatest at the sharpest bends in debris flow paths. As a possible
extreme example, o n e flow on Inverness Ridge in January 1982
was directed perpendicular t o a second-order channel and rode
directly u p the opposite slope, rising 10 m in elevation; this pro-
DISCUSSION A N D CONCLUSION
vided a minimum velocity of 14 m / s e c for the flow (Ellen, 1987).
In a separate study, w e have prepared a debris flow susceptibility
It is well documented that, in m a n y areas, hollows are the
m a p for a proposed subdivision in San Rafael using previously
most important sources for debris flows. In parts of the San
calculated velocities of debris flows to estimate the superelevation
Francisco Bay area, for example, studies by several workers indi-
that could occur at channel junctions where the curves in poten-
cate that about two-thirds of failures initiate within hollows
tial debris flow paths were greatest. This procedure identified a
(Smith and Hart, 1982; Smith, 1984, 1987; Reneau a n d Dietrich,
broad area of relatively gentle slope set above a stream channel as
1987; Ellen a n d others, 1987), demonstrating that hollows should
being a potentially hazardous site for development; this area ex-
be given the most emphasis in identifying debris flow source areas
tended for u p to 50 m a w a y from the channel, and erroneously
in this region. In some other areas, hollows appear to occupy a
would have been considered safe if the hazard zone w a s delin-
smaller portion of the total landscape, perhaps d u e t o differences
eated as a 20-m-wide strip centered on the stream.
in the geologic and climatic setting, and consequently they are less
important as sources of debris flows. In order t o provide a re-
In forested areas, the importance of the w o o d y debris con-
gional basis for hazard evaluation, studies are clearly needed that
tent of debris flows cannot b e overemphasized where mitigation
systematically identify the location of past failures and the relative
measures are being planned. Channels or basins designed to con-
susceptibility of different bedrock types, slope gradients, and
tain a given volume of debris m a y become blocked by an irregu-
topographic positions in each region. T h e recent studies of
lar mass of trees, resulting in an overtopping of the structure and
Hollingsworth and Kovacs (1981) a n d Ellen and others (1983)
diversion of the flow. In the Mill Valley example, although the
are useful steps in this direction.
flow h a d traveled only a short distance from the landslide scar,
In urbanized areas, mitigation techniques are being devel- the number and the weight of trees were substantial and may
oped and applied to protect existing structures from debris flows have been of primary importance in destroying the house.
(e.g., Hollingsworth and Kovacs, 1981; Smith and Hart, 1982; The diversion of drainage from roads o n t o swales has been
Baldwin and others, this volume). T h e subtlety of m a n y hollows, repeatedly shown t o trigger landslides a n d gullying, and deserves
their close spacing, and the c o m m o n occurrence of failures on greater attention in urbanized and developing areas. Actively
side slopes lead to important implications for mitigation mea- eroding scars below roads can require expensive maintenance, as
sures. In hilly areas susceptible t o debris flows, few sites except along the Marin Headlands, and road runoff can significandy
ridge crests can b e considered completely safe from this hazard; increase the debris flow hazard to development downslope. The
Importance of hollows in debris flow studies 179
extension of culverts downslope beyond the colluvial deposits to development to exist in steep terrain with the minimum of risk
natural stream channels is a relatively simple and effective meth- from this hazard.
od to alleviate this problem. Compared to the potential for loss of
life and destruction of houses in developed areas, the cost of
installing and maintaining such culverts is minor. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Much progress has been made in recent years toward under-
standing the origin and characteristics of shallow landslides and This study was partially supported by National Science
resultant debris flows; this should lead to improved siting of new Foundation grant EAR-84-16775. The field work included in the
development. In particular, more emphasis must be given to po- case studies was aided by numerous people who gave freely of
tential hazards upslope and beyond the property boundaries of their time and ideas, including D. Chambers, L. Dingier,
individual tracts of land. This emerging understanding of debris E. Hughes, D. Marron, S. Raugust, P. Whiting, and C. Wilson.
flow hazards also needs to be better communicated to people Soil analyses were provided by A. Kropp and Associates, and
presently living in hazardous areas in hollows and along stream unpublished tree biomass equations were generously provided by
channels. Clearly, much remains to be accomplished to allow N. Pillsbury.
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