Jean?Marie Vuignier
Director: Prof. Michel Jaboyedoff
Co?director: Dr. Ivanna Penna
Experts: Prof. Stuart Lane, Dr. Karen Sudmeier?Rieux
Natural and human-induced erosive processes shape landscape by transferring masses from the mountain to downstream areas. They also impact population both located in the source areas of sediments as well as urban areas settle on the depositional area. Mountain areas in Bolivia present high surface dynamics and high rates of rural migrations, causing e.g. a significant increase of population in Cochabamba city in the last 20 years. This work aims to estimate the sediment production on the Jatún Mayu watershed in Cochabamba department taking into account the different origins of sediments.
The region of study consists of a mountain area situated in the Andes with altitudes ranging from 2500 to 4600m. Fieldwork on July 2014 and high-resolution satellite image
interpretation (2004 & 2009) allowed mapping and measuring landslides and gullies. A
hundred of landslides are recorded mostly around the river channel. Most of the gullies are
situated in the upper part of the valley where the vegetation is less abundant on low-sloping agricultural lands.
Photogrammetric reconstructions using camera and drone were the main method used to
characterize some strategic points along the river in order to get dimensions of landslides,
gullies, as well as the riverbed roughness, as the final goal was to model floods at the mouth of the watershed, where migrants have been settling for the last years. A total of 9 points of interests along the riverbed were surveyed and for each of them a square 5x5m surface was analyzed. Approximately 250 pictures by area were needed to estimate roughness along the channel. A flood model has been performed, by using the Riverflo-2D Plus software, to produce a model of the downstream region.
