Check dam storage capacity calculation based on high-resolution topogrammetry: Case study of the Cutou Gully, Wenchuan County, China.

Debris flows are a common natural trigger of disasters in mountainous areas, and check dams are standard structural measures for controlling debris flows. Despite their prevalence in debris flow-prone areas worldwide, the capacity of check dams is still calculated using empirical formulas, which lead to large calculation errors. This paper proposes a new method that uses GIS to calculating the design storage capacity of a check dam in the debris flow-prone Cutou Gully in Wenchuan County, China.