The erosion of sediment through the exchange of momentum and energy transfer within the debris flow affects the unstable motion of the debris flow. Many models have been established to study the impact of erosion on debris flow motion, but most of the models were based on bed erosion. This paper analyzed the process of unstable motion of debris flows through an experimental flume to contrast bank erosion-dominated conditions and bed erosion-only conditions. The experiments showed that bank erosion enhanced the formation and propagation of debris flows. The volume of sediments eroded by water and the debris flow mass for the bank erosion-dominated conditions was much greater than that for the bed erosion-only conditions. The height and velocity of the debris flows fluctuated, and the total basal normal stress and pore pressure increased unsteadily along the path under both conditions. However, bank erosion increased the velocity of the debris flow and made the motion fluctuation more obvious. Physical equations were established and the analyses suggested that bank erosion dominated debris flows had increased resistance and gradient enhancement than that of bed erosion-only debris flows. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.