BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers have developed a comprehensive model of mountain runoff-generated debris flow evolution, as well as a forecasting platform.

Accurately predicting the flow of mountain runoff-generated debris involves the study of rainfall, infiltration, flow concentration, channel evolution and disasters.

The researchers from the Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences focused on the formation and propagation processes of debris flow within a catchment and divided the process into three stages of rainfall infiltration, runoff and debris flow routing.

They simulated the experimental cases and a debris flow event that occurred in southwest China's Sichuan Province in 2010 by the proposed model.

The results showed that their model could effectively describe the behaviors of each stage during the debris flow formation and propagation processes, according to the study paper published in the journal Landslides. Meanwhile, the forecasting platform made quantitative evaluations of the depth, speed, weight and damage range of the debris flow.

The research is expected to support the reduction and prevention of runoff-generated debris flow in mountain areas.