Recent Debris Flows in the Tatra Mountains

This chapter results from the interpretation of the data collected by field studies of debris flow events including geomorphological effects, of an Ikonos satellite image from 2004, and the DEM prepared for the entire Tatra massif. Based on about 20-year-long field observations, the rainfall thresholds necessary to trigger debris flows have been identified. Such thresholds, however, vary with lithology and relief. As it is illustrated by the lack of debris flows associated with the extreme weather events in May and June of 2010 in the Tatras, there is no clear relationship between periods of high daily precipitations and the triggering of this type of mass movement. The most spectacular topographic impacts of debris flows are observed in the middle section of the vertical profile of the mountains. Debris flow activity is strongly conditioned by relief (topography and substrate properties) that resulted from Pleistocene glacial and periglacial morphogenesis.