Destructive Water: Water-Caused Natural Disasters, their Abatement and Control (Proceedings of the

Conference held at Anaheim, California, June 1996). IAHS Publ. no. 239, 1997.

279

Debris flow events at mountainous creeks near

Santiago, Chile: hydrologie analysis
X. VARGAS & P. LARA
Civil Engineering Department, University of Chile, Casilla 228/3, Santiago, Chile

Abstract Based on information about debris flow events that occurred at

mountainous creeks near Santiago, Chile, hydrometeorological data,
particularly precipitation and the 0C isoline of temperature are analysed.
Flow hydrographs observed in nearby basins are taken into account to
determine regional effective rainfall distribution in selected events. A
synthetic unit hydrograph, calibrated in the area, is used as a rainfall-runoff
relation to obtain the liquid part of the flow hydrographs and the peak flows
in ungauged sites. Results indicate that for the most damaging observed
event, which occurred in 1993, the liquid peak flow had a return period of
50 years. The exceedance probability associated with the elevation of the
rain-snow interface, in that event, is 10%; however, daily precipitation
depth is much lower than that associated with a return period of 10 years.
The threshold values of the hourly rainfall intensity for the occurrence of
debris flow events, vary from 8 to over 20 mm h"', depending on the basin.
INTRODUCTION
One of the most important aspects in relation to peak flow magnitudes generated in
mountainous basins at the western side of the Andes facing the city of Santiago,
Chile (see Fig. 1) deals with the area affected by liquid precipitation. Mean daily
temperature during storm events is usually lower than 11C and the rain-snow
interface level is located near 2000 m a.m.s.l. Nevertheless in some rainfall events
the occurrence of high temperatures raises the level of the rain-snow interface, a
factor which increases the area contributing to runoff and hence especially large flow
volumes are generated. Commonly associated with this phenomenon is an increase of
rainfall intensities with altitude which also tends to raise peak flows. This paper deals
with the hydrologie analysis of events that, due to high temperatures and/or high
rainfall magnitudes, cause debris flows in mountainous basins in the area under
study, such as those that occurred on 3 May 1993. These events strongly affected the
riverine population, generating severe damages of infrastructure as well as losses of
human life.

BASIC DATA ANALYSIS

The first step in the research was to identify dates of occurrence of debris flow in the
area under study and the specific meteorological data of each one. Since 1945,
17 events were detected for the central region of Chile, only 12 of them had
meteorological information available. In four of these events, those indicated in
Table 1, debris flows occurred in one or more of the basins under study due to rain
storms. It is interesting to note that in Apoquindo Creek basin there was no evidence
of debris flows for any of the analysed events.

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X. Vargas & P. Lara

Fig. 1 Area selected for the study.

To estimate the rain-snow interface level in each event, an index temperature for
the storm. (Seguel & Stowhas, 1985) was calculated as a function of daily minimum
and maximum values. This value, calculated at Quinta Normal raingauge, together
with a regional thermal variation of -5.68 C/1000 m are used to estimate the
elevation associated with the threshold value for the index temperature fixed at 1C.
The effect of temperature on the position of the rain-snow interface is demonstrated
by the values of the contributing area for Macul and San Ramon basins, which
indicate a variation of almost 60% between storms (Table 2). There is almost no
variation in the Apoquindo basin or other basins that were analysed, for which the
highest elevation is below 2200 m a.m.s.l.
For the biggest daily precipitation observed at Quinta Normal gauge (1987
episode) a return period lower than 10 years can be associated. The maximum hourly
intensity of precipitation recorded at Quinta Normal in these events was always
higher than 7 mmh"1. The antecedent precipitation index (API), taken as the
cumulative precipitation 30 days before the storm does not seem to be an important
variable, but added to the storm precipitation constitutes over 50% of the normal
Table 1 Storm characteristics at Quinta Normal gauge in selected storms.
Date
27 September 1982
16 June 1986
14 July 1987
3 May 1993

Pu (mm)
20.2
18.6
51.1
14.6

i (mm h"1)

r(c)

7.2
7.2

11.7
12.8
11.4
16.2

11.1

9.7

HSL (m a.m s.l.)

2300
2230
2170
3240

API (mm)
145.0
137.0

6.9
101.7

P, 4 : daily precipitation; i: maximum hourly rain intensity; T: mean daily temperature; HSL: estimated
elevation of snow-rain interface level; API: Antecedent Precipitation Index.

Debris flow events at mountainous creeks near Santiago, Chile

281

Table 2 Basin characteristic for selected storms.

San Ramon Creek
Apoquindo Creek
Macul Creek
Area L
Area L
La
S
Area L
La
S
L S
he
',c
(km2) (km) (km) (%) (mm h1) (km2) (km) (km) (%) (mm h"1) (km2) (km) (km) (%) (mm h"')
25.5 10.4 6.6 37.0 9.1
09/27/82 17.9 7.2 4.1 41.3 11.3
20.0 8.8 5.3 45.3 10.4
24.2 10.2 6.4 35.6 8.2
06/16/86 16.9 7.0 4.0 40.2 10.2
20.0 8.8 5.3 45.1 9.3
22.9 10.0 5.7 34.1 11.0
20.0 8.8 5.3 44.4 12.4
07/14/87 15.9 6.9 4.0 39.0 13.6
35.8 11.5 7.0 52.1 20.0
20.0 8.8 5.3 45.3 21.6
05/03/93 25.6 8.6 5.0 56.4 23.6
Area: rainfall contributing area; L: main stream length; La: length to basin centre of gravity; S: basin mean slope;
i,c: maximum intensity during basin time of concentration (Q.
Date

'

annual precipitation in all cases being analysed. An exception is the most damaging
event, where the main factor of debris flow origin is attributed to the increase of
mean daily temperature. This raised the 0C isotherm level to a higher than normal
position, causing a significant increase of contributing area in mountainous basins.
The stream mean slope varies with elevation as indicated in Table 2 and is shown
in Fig. 2 for the Macul Creek. The variation between storms represent almost a 50%
change from the lowest slope indicated. Also, for all the cases analysed, the stream
width varies with elevation in a similar way as indicated in Fig. 2 for Macul Creek.

METHODOLOGY
Usually when flow information is available for a period of sufficient length to satisfy
the needed precision for the results, a frequency analysis is carried out using such
data to obtain design flow values. When scarce or no information is available and a
design flow magnitude is needed, an indirect method such as a rainfall-runoff
relation is commonly used. In that case, the frequency analysis of the recorded
rainfall during a long period is the base of design flow values.
4000 -1

0-1

6
7
8
Distance (km)

10

11

12

13

Fig. 2 Longitudinal profile of Macul Creek.

282

x. Vargas & P. Lara

Due to the constraint of aggregating temperature as an additional parameter to be

considered, an alternative method is used in this paper. The method is used to
reconstruct the streamflow series associated with debris occurrence, for the period
under study. The basic hypothesis used here is that dates of the largest liquid peak
flows, which are associated with debris flow occurrence, can be extracted from
newspapers or other literature. For these selected storms, the recorded streamflow
information in other gauged basins of the region was used to calibrate the initial soil
conditions and the effective rainfall distribution for each storm.
A synthetic unit hydrograph, calibrated in the region, was used as a rainfallrunoff relation. In order to estimate parameters of the method, a Linsley type
relationship were established:

qp =

4O0tp-lM

where tp is the time to reach peak flow, in hours, tu the rainfall duration, in hours,
and qp the peak flow, in Is"1 km"2. The form of the unit hydrographs were defined
using Commons non dimensional distribution. The derived unit hydrograph for each
event in each basin, was corrected to have a unit volume.
The mean total precipitation P, in mm, over the basin was estimated using the
following expression calibrated in the region:
P = -9.3*10n*r3-9 + 2.67*PQN0'83 + 3.58
where PQN is the recorded value for the storm at Quinta Normal raingauge in mm and
z is the mean elevation of the basin in m a.m.s.l.
For each event, the time distribution of precipitation was assumed to be equal to
that observed in the Quinta Normal raingauge. The same calibrated infiltration <j)
index for the gauged basins was used for the basins under study.
Once hydrographs were obtained, peak flows were extracted for each event; then
assuming that these values were the highest for the period being analysed, a return
period was assigned to each value and a graphical frequency analysis was performed.
RESULTS
In Table 3 the peak flow values obtained for each event and the assigned return
period are presented. It can be seen from Tables 2 and 3 that, depending on the
basin, not always the biggest precipitation or the highest hourly effective rainfall
intensity generates the maximum peak flows. Peak values are a function of a
combination of the facts already mentioned and the mean daily temperature.
A graphical frequency analysis, like the one presented in Fig. 3 for Macul Creek
basin, was performed for each basin using values presented in Table 3.
For the event that occurred on 3 May 1993, the removed sediment volume

Debris flow events at mountainous creeks near Santiago, Chile

283

Table 3 Peak flows estimated on ungauged basins.

Year
1982
1986
1987
1993

Macul
Q (m3 s1)

T (years)

San R a m o n
Q (m 3 s-1)

T (years)

Apoquindo
Q (m 3 s~>)

T (years)

22.7
18.6
24.1
47.5

17
13
26
51

28.1
19.2
27.9
53.0

26
13
17
51

23.9
18.8
26.9
34.8

17
13
26
51

estimated for Macul Creek basin was 800 000 m3. Ayala & Soli's (1994) developed a
computational model to simulate the characteristics of a debris flow associated with
this event using the hydrograph derived here. The maximum volumetric
concentration obtained was 40% and the derived peak total flow was 80 m3 s"1.

CONCLUSIONS
The main conclusions extracted from this study are the following:
- In certain basins, debris flow occurrence is due to hydrometeorological factors,
but the characteristics of the basin, in particular an erodible bed stream, are
clearly the main factors.
- In these events, the 30 days antecedent precipitation added to the storm
precipitation represent a value of the order of the normal annual precipitation.
- For these episodes, there are threshold values for effective rainfall intensity
estimated during time of concentration of the basin, that limit the occurrence of
debris flows. These intensities are 8.2 and 10.2 mmh"1 for San Ramon and
100 -

[D^-^-~~

a^-~~'~~~

CO

J.

10 -

10

100
Return Period (years)

Fig. 3 Frequency analysis of liquid peak flows at Macul Creek basin.

284

X. Vargas & P. Lara

Macul Creek basins, respectively. For non erodible bed streams, like Apoquindo
Creek basin, values on the order of 22 mm h"1 during the basin time of
concentration do not originate the phenomenon.
There is a threshold value of liquid peak flows in each basin of erodible bed that
limits the occurrence of debris flows. This value is 19 m3 s"1 in San Ramon and
Macul Creek basins.
Acknowledgements The authors thanks FONDECYT for the financial support for
this study given through project #1940545.
REFERENCES
Ayala, L. & Soli's, E. (1994) Simulation of hydrometeorological debris flows over an erodible bed (Simulation de
crecidas de detritos hidrometeorolgicas en un lecho erosionable). In: XII Chilean Congress of Hydraulic
Engineering, vol. 2, 315-327. Chilean Society of Hydraulic Engineering, Santiago, Chile.
Seguel, R. & Stowhas, L. (1985) Design flow estimation for mixed rainy-snowy basins (Estimation de crecidas de
disefio en cuencas mixtas pluvio-nivales). In: VII National Congress of Hydraulic Engineering, vol. 2, 317-336.
University of Conception-Chilean Society of Hydraulic Engineering, Conception, Chile.
Vargas, X., Lara, P. & Ayala, L. (1996) Hydrologie Characterization of Debris Flows in Central Chile (Caracterizacion
Hidrolgica de las Corrientes de Detritos en Chile Central). Publ. no. 94, Civil Engineering Department,
University of Chile, Santiago, Chile