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Effects of Debris Flow Disturbance on Vegetation, Soils, and Topography in a Steep Landscape in Central Virginia

Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: In August 1969, intense rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Camille triggered >150 debris flows in Fortune's Cove, a first‐order drainage basin in central Virginia. These debris flows reshaped the landscape by stripping colluvium and vegetation from hollows. Yet the roles of debris flows in ecological disturbance and topographic evolution remain incompletely understood. To address these gaps, we used a case study of three hollows in Fortune's Cove to determine the responses of woody plants and soils to debris flow disturbance, and the topographic signatures of debris flows in channel longitudinal profiles. Vegetation showed distinct composition and structure differences between sites disturbed by debris flows, whose overstory was dominated by sweet birch ( Betula lenta ) and tuliptree ( Liriodendron tulipifera ); and undisturbed reference sites dominated by tuliptree, sassafras ( Sassafras albidum ), and snags (all spp.). Soil regeneration varied widely: some disturbed sites showed predominantly exposed bedrock (<2 cm depth) while others had soil profiles comparable to their undisturbed counterparts (20–50 cm depth); soils at undisturbed sites were all thick (>20 cm depth). Topographic analysis indicated that for the same slopes, the transition between hillslope and fluvial erosion processes occurs at much lower drainage areas (10 3 –10 4 m 2 ) compared to more arid, less vegetated areas in the western U.S. (10 5 –10 6 m 2 ). This case study suggests that debris flows may cause persistent changes to soils, vegetation, and topography in the Appalachian region that can inform land management in the context of regional precipitation changes driven by climate change.
DOI: 10.1029/2025ea004619
Language: English
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,650
OpenAlex ID: W7141259973
FWCI: 6.951
Cites: 45
Cited by: 1
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