EROSION CONTROL BASICS IN TROPICAL AREAS

Jaime Suarez-Diaz
School of Civil Engineering
Industrial University of Santander. Calle 41 28-33 Bucaramanga, Colombia.
Phone + 57 76341255 Fax + 57 76457507
E-mail: erosion@epm.net.co

Biographical Sketch of author

Jaime Suarez-Diaz holds Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Civil

Engineering from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. He is a
professor and researcher at the Industrial University of Santander in Bucaramanga
Colombia. His areas of teaching, research and consulting include slope stability
and erosion from a geotechnical point of view. He has written several books on
these topics. The most recent “Erosion Control in Tropical Areas” is used as
textbook for erosion control in several Spanish-speaking countries.

Abstract

Soil erosion is very difficult to control in tropical areas because the climatic and
geologic conditions are of extraordinary complexity. Precipitation is generally very
superior in magnitude and intensity to that of temperate areas and the climatic
fluctuations as “El niño” are very well marked.

The velocity of water flows commonly reach values higher than 5.0 meter per
second with flows of high turbulence. This is due to the high volume of flow and
very steep slopes. Additionally, water currents transport large quantities of coarse
sediments.

The layer of residual soil and weathered rock in soil profiles is generally very thick
and soils possess in many cases a very high susceptibility to erosion. The very
high values of environmental temperature also have considerable impact in
deterioration of soils accelerating the erosion rates.

On the other hand, a very important positive element is the vegetation bio-diversity.
The hundreds of thousands of vegetation species found in the tropical areas
become a very useful tool for the control of soil erosion. In a single hectare of
tropical forest there can be more than 300 vegetation species. Some of these
tropical species have specific properties that make them very useful in erosion
control.

The technologies of erosion control developed in the United States and Europe
have had a mixed success in the tropical countries. Although the fundamental
principles of erosion control are applicable, modifications are required in the
application approaches. Hard structures such as gabions and deep revetments,

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have had generally a good behavior while the use of soft linings has not been as
successful.

The work shows the principal challenges that the specialist in erosion control faces
in tropical areas. The document also presents several historical cases of erosion
in tropical countries.

Key words: Hydrology, tropical environments, residual soils, bio-engineering,

slope stability.

1. Introduction

Erosion control in the tropical areas has much in common with the practice of
erosion control in non tropical areas. The basic principles are the same, but the
environment in which the erosion processes are developed is very different. The
present document summarizes some of the basic factors to keep in mind when
managing erosion problems in tropical countries.

The principal elements of the erosion behavior in tropical areas are the following:
- The hot and humid environment. High temperature and humidity during
practically all year affect the behavior of soils and vegetation.
- The hydrology. The regime of rainfall is characterized by very strong intensities
of precipitation and for severe climatic fluctuations such as “El niño”.
- The residual soils. Tropical soils are characterized by high weathering levels
and the predominance of residual soils, which commonly present a high
susceptibility to physical weathering and erosion processes.

The result is an environment in which, much more severe erosion phenomena can
take place than in non tropical areas. Before these circumstances the solution to
the problems, requires of works able to resist more intense tractive forces and to
support stronger scour levels. The lack of knowledge about the characteristics of
tropical environments can bring large failures of erosion control structures.

2. Hydrological factors

The tropical hydrology is characterized by high precipitations due to the crossing of

clusters of clouds in the areas of wind convergence. The clusters are groups of
clouds in greater scale, with areas of high rainfall up to of 50000 square kilometers
(Smith, 1992). These cloud clusters generate rains of great intensity and of
several days of duration. These high rainfall areas are located on a relatively
parallel fringe to the Equator. The fringe moves toward the south in the event of
“El niño” and toward the north in “La niña”.

The result is a system of rains of great intensity on a tropical fringe semi-pallel to

the equator (figure 1). The tropical areas can be subdivided in two areas of
different hydrology:

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Figure 1. Areas of permanent high rainfall and semi-dry areas in the tropics.

-Areas of permanent high precipitation. They correspond to the areas of

crossing of the clusters of clouds. In this areas, rain generally takes place yearly
with an average from 1400 to 3500 milimeters (60 to 150 inches) and in some
places up to 10000 millimeters (400 inches) of rain a year. The maximum rainfall
in a 24-hours period varies between 100 and 500 millimeters (4 to 20 inches).

-Semi-dry or semi-arid areas. There are areas to the north and to the south of
the permanent high precipitation areas (figure 2), with yearly average rainfall of
less than 1000 millimeters (40 inches). However, with a period of recurrence
variable between 5 and 50 years, rainy events with more than 500 millimeters (20
inches) of rain in 24 hours can take place. These events are those that produce
catastrophic problems of erosion and landslides.

The climatic disturbances

The displacement of the fringe of high rainfall, in certain years, generates strong
rains in the semi-dry areas, and these are the events that produce more serious
problems of erosion. These catastrophic events are common in the semi-dry
tropical areas. Two worldwide well-know examples are Hong-Kong in May of 1982
and Venezuela in December of 1999.

“El Niño” and “La Niña”

The climatic disturbances are generally related with “El niño” and “La niña”. The
system of fronts of clusters of clouds from east to west, manages most of the
tropical climate. However in certain years anomalies of clusters take place in the
opposite direction, with clouds coming from the north pole, or a displacement to the
south or to the north of the normal fronts of clusters. These anomalies can
generate very high precipitation in areas where the normal rain average is low, for

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example in the coast of Peru and Ecuador and in the coast of Venezuela. In Asia
the high rain areas can move north toward China, or south to the north of Australia.
El Niño generates persistent rainfall toward Ecuador and Peru and toward Mexico
and Southern California and later on “La niña” locates these high rainfall areas
over Central America and Colombia. These disturbances produce very intense
times of rain or drought, according to the location of the cloud clusters.

Figure 2. Average annual rainfall in the tropical area of America (Suarez 2001).

Hurricanes and Typhoons.

Hurricanes and Typhoons are convective systems of great magnitude with high
velocity winds and very strong rains. Typhoons are characteristic of the Tropical
areas of Southwest and Southeast Asia. Hurricanes are characteristic of the
tropical area of the Caribbean from Mexico down to the coast of Venezuela. Most
of the hurricanes are formed in the Atlantic ocean and they continue growing in
force as they advance toward the Caribbean. Finally they lose strength when they
enter the continent. The hurricanes are a very important source of erosion in
Central America and Mexico.

Wet and Drought Seasons

Climate changes along the year form very well defined seasons. Regions closest to
the equator may experience two rainy seasons and two dry seasons a year. Away
from the equator the year may split into single rainy and dry seasons. In some
areas there is no rain most of the year, with a very long drougth season. When rain
finally comes there are events of very high erosion rates.

Case history 1: The rains of December 1999 in Venezuela. In only two days,
there was a rainfall of 1,400 millimeters (56 inches) in an area where the average
precipitation is less than 500 millimeters (20 inches) per year (Salcedo, 2002). The
result was a catastrophic process of erosion, avalanches, sedimentation and more

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than 30,000 people dead. The erosion depth in beds and margins of waterways,
reached values of up to 15 meters (50 feet).
Some of the main characteristics of these torrential flows were the following:
More than 15 basins presented torrential flows and processes of intense erosion in
simultaneous form. The total volume of erosion in the event was of more than 20
million cubic meters. Flow velocities were higher than 7 m/sec (Chart 1). The
torrential flows were able to transport rock blocks with weights between 250 and
400 tons. It should be kept in mind that the event has a period of recurrence of
more than 100 years.

Chart 1 Physical properties of torrential flows during the 1999 erosion event at
Venezuela (Salcedo, 2002).

Creek Volume of Dynamic Unit weight of Gradient Velocity

flow viscosity µ water soil mix % m/sec
m3/seg (kg.sec/m2) kg/cm3
Guanape 586 0.44 2.430 6.0 9.4
San Julian 3192 0.47 2.450 8.0 15.0
Cerro 1200 -- 2.000 7.0 8.0
Grande
Carmen 1300 -- 2.200 6.7 7.0
de Uria

3. Geotechnical factors.

The high weathering level of the rocks have produced residual soils of great
thickness, which present high susceptibility to erosion in most cases. According to
the type of parent rock the susceptibility to the erosion of the residual soil varies.
The soils that present larger erosion rates are those produced by metamorphic
rocks (schists) and those of carbonaceous or pirite shales and soils of volcanic
origin. Chart 2 shows Relative Erosion according to the rock type that produces
the residual soil.

Chart 2. Depth of weathering and relative erosion of residual soils.

Parent rock Depth of weathering Relative Erosion 1

(meters)
Schists and 5 to 20 5.0
metamorphic rocks
Volcanic rocks 5 to 20 4.5
Carbonaceous or pirite 3 to 15 3.0
shales
Granites 5 to 20 2.5
Sandstones 1 to 5 1.0
Claystones 1 to 5 0.5
1
Relative erosion 1.0 is the erosion of an alluvial medium size sand

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Case history 2: Hong-Kong 1982. During the rains that took place in Hong-Kong
the days 28 and 29 of May of 1982, the profiles of residual soil of the slopes of
Hong-Kong, with thickness higher than 5 meters, were totally saturated and the
soils flowed as a liquid, generating a catastrophe. The levels of average annual
rainfall in Hong-Kong are high but this rainy event can be considered an anomaly.
However, these events repeat with a period of recurrence of less than 10 years
(Chart 3).

Chart 3. Approximate relationship between the intensity of rainfall and catastrophic

events of erosion and landslides in Hong-Kong (Brand, 1985).

24-HOUR RAINFALL (mm)

EROSION AND FREQUENCY
HOURLY RAINFALL (mm)

LANDSLIDE EVENT

100 DISASTROUS 1 IN 5 YEARS 300

70 SEVERE 1 IN 2 YEARS 200

40 MINOR 3 IN 1 YEAR 100

0 NIL --- 0

4. Altitude and topographical factors

The presence of mountains, such as the Himalayas in Asia and the Andes in
South-America, jointly with the hydrological and climatic factors form a combination
that can generate erosion problems of great magnitude.
- The hydrology and the characteristics of the vegetation change with the altitude.
At certain altitudes rainfall reaches its maximum (Figure 3) making erosion
problems bigger.
- The high volume of the discharges and the high erosion rate of the residual soils
convert the mountain rivers, into “torrents”, characterized by high speed and the
transportation of great quantity of sediments of large size. Most of the rivers of
tropical mountains during the rainy seasons reach flow velocities higher than 5
m/sec and transport large volumes of coarse sediments.
- The formation of debris flows. When an event of anomalous rain occurs in a
tropical semi-dry area usually a large quantity of debris flows take place. It is a
challenging to manage erosion problems produced by debris flows.

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Figure 3. Differences in the historical maximum rainfall in 24 hours at different
altitudes in the same area in the foot of the Andes in Colombia(Suarez 2001).

5. Some basic details to take into account in the design of erosion control
works in tropical areas.

Hard structures are preferred

-For the erosion control in tropical areas generally hard structures are preferred as
they are able to resist velocities higher than 5 m/sec, and important volumes of
sediments present in the flows. Some of the most common materials used for
erosion control are: rock blocks, Rip-Rap, grouted rip-rap, gabions, concrete bags
concrete blocks and sprayed concrete.

Soft structures have to be combined with tropical vegetation

-Soft structures such as the TRMs or the ECRMs have presented problems in
many occasions. Some erosion control mats do not behave well in tropical climates
and become brittle a few years after installation. Although high strength products
are being developed, it is possible that stronger products will be needed in order to
be successful in tropical countries. An alternative is the combination of these
products with deep root tropical vegetation species, of high resistance to erosion
such as the vetiver grass.

It is difficult to establish vegetation on steep slopes in the tropics

-There have been some problems with very steep slopes where the establishment
of vegetation is very difficult.(Li et al, 1999). The erosion control mats become
ineffective if not securely fixed to the slope surface. Hydroseeding with erosion
control mats alone may not be effective in establishing a reliable, long term
vegetation cover in steep slopes.
Barker(1999) mentions some of the general problems in vegetation establishment
on steep slopes in the tropics:

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Climate: drought, exposure to wind, slope moisture burnt from sunrise onwards.
Soil Conditions: acidity, low nutrient levels, desiccation, heavy leaching rates, high
erosion rates from intense rainfall, very high or very low weathering.

Use of the great vegetation bio-diversity of the tropical areas

-In a single hectare of tropical forest there can be more than 300 different species.
The bio-diversity is such that professionals in erosion control know of hundreds of
vegetable species that possess bioengineering properties required for erosion
control. Some of these plants have very deep roots and have a great capacity to
control soil erosion.
Nevertheless there are only a few species where research knowledge has been
developed. People who live in rural areas generally know better the native species
than the professionals in erosion control. Most of the research on tropical
vegetation for erosion control and slope stability, has been carried out in Hong
Kong (Greenway 1998, Webb 1991, Geotechnical Engineering Office, 1994).

Use site and local specific species

-A site may have some local vegetation species characteristic of the place. The
use of specific species, instead of a standard design, has many advantages
including better chances of survival for the vegetation, especially for sites with
adverse ground conditions. Semidry-areas generally do not accept vegetation
from high rain areas. Most tropical vegetation species only adapt at certain
altitudes.

Use shrubs
-In tropical areas, there is a great diversity of shrubs. The use of shrubs instead of
trees or grasses helps to solve erosion control problems in steep slopes. However,
there is a limited knowledge about local shrubs in most places, and it is
recommended to carry out specific studies on local species before using them on a
large scale.

Use Live staking

-The use of live stakes and live poles of trees and shrubs has been very successful
in many cases. A large quantity of tropical species reproduce using stakes. The
use of bamboo stalks, or some other species such as Gliricida sepium, is very
popular in most tropical countries.

Proprietary products for erosion control are generally of high cost

-The cost of the products for erosion control developed in the industrialized
countries is very high in most tropical countries. Their use is economically feasible
only in large oil or mining projects. The communities and the entities of the state
that have to manage problems of erosion control generally appeal to solutions with
local products such as non-industrialized gabions and empiric bioengineering
works.
However, products using natural local fibers have been developed. It is the case of
the natural fiber known as “fique” in South-America. This tropical fiber similar to

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“jute” is used locally to produce erosion control blankets, at costs that are
affordable for the common infrastructure projects (Duque, 2002).

Case history 3: The Panama Canal. The soils along the Panama Canal are
mainly residual soils of volcanic rocks and high weathered shales. These soils
have a very high susceptibility to erosion. The works of erosion control along the
Panama Canal have consisted mainly of hard works including marine mattresses
made with high resistance fibers (Figure 4), sheet pile walls, concrete piles, rip-rap
and reinforced concrete blocks (Fernández, 2002)

Figure 4 . Marine mattresses and rock blocks in the Panama Canal (Fernandez
2002).

6. Conclusions
When professionals in erosion control have to solve erosion problems in tropical
areas, they should be prepared to confront cases of very high velocities of water,
with the presence of very high volumes of coarse sediments in the flow and soils
with very high susceptibility to erosion. It is recommended to investigate the
hydrology of the site and the characteristics of the soils very well. The materials to
use generally include hard works and tropical vegetation species with special
properties in erosion control.

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Carlos Fernando Diaz for reviewing the text. He also thanks
Daniel Salcedo for the data from the Venezuela case, and Luis Carlos Fernandez
for the information about the works in the Panama Canal.

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Brand E.W. 1985. “ Predicting the performance of residual soil slopes”. Eleventh
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Duque J.G. 2002. “Erosion control using products of natural fiber, fique”. First
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Fernández L.C. 2002. “Erosion control in the Panama Canal”. First Latin
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