Hydrologic and geomorphologic evaluation of the 1999 debris-flow event in Venezuela

Hydrologic and geomorphologic evaluation of the 1999 debris-flow event in Venezuela Conference

Lopez, JL, Perez, D, Garcia, R. (2003). Hydrologic and geomorphologic evaluation of the 1999 debris-flow event in Venezuela . 2 989-1000.

In this paper a general hydrologic and geomorphological evaluation of the debris flows that took place in December 1999 in Venezuela is presented. First, the major debris flow events that have occurred in Venezuela and other Latin-American countries are summarized, and then the hydrological and geomorphologic processes, associated with the 1999 disaster, are described. An estimation of the maximum flow discharges and sediment accumulation volumes in some basins are made based on field observations. The results indicate that the torrential flows that took place in Venezuela were a unique event in the sense that multiple basins generated debris flows in the morning of December 16, 1999, creating a new coast line and depositing more than 20 million cubic meters of sediment on the alluvial fans and beaches of the north- central Venezuela. © 2003 Millpress.