Definitions for "Debris avalanche"
A form of landslide where a water-saturated upper soil layer and the vegetation growing on it slides over an underlying less permeable subsoil creating a relatively shallow, narrow slide scar, usually two to three feet deep and 15 to 30 feet wide.
The sudden downslope movement of rock and soil on a steep slope.
Rapidly moving, dry flows of disaggregated rock debris, sand, and silt. Volcanic debris avalanches commonly form by some type of structural collapse of the volcano, usually the steep front of the cooled lava dome, or other parts of the upper edifice. A large portion of the volcano may become unstable, break away from the volcanic massif, and become an avalanche. A debris avalanche may be triggered by an eruption or earthquake. Debris avalanches move at velocities ranging from a few tens of meters per second to more than 100 meters per second and behave like complex granular flows or slide flows. Commonly they are quite voluminous (greater than 10 cubic kilometers) and may run out considerable distances (up to 85 kilometers) from their source. The resulting debris-avalanche deposit usually exhibits hummocky surface morphology.
Keywords:  mudflow, rapidly, flow, moving
debris flow (mudflow)
A very rapidly moving debris flow.