Monday, March 22, 2010

Types of Mass Wasting

Soil Creep: Occurs on slopes, especially in humid areas. A slow movement of loose rock and soil down a slope. Hard to observe it happening, but you can tell that it occurs because of the tilt of fences, walls and curved tree trunks. It can be assisted by freezing, thawing, wetting and drying.

Slump: When a block causes large amounts of rock to slowly move down a hill.

Solifluction: Common in warm, moist climates. Movement of land like a thick liquid. A slow, downhill flow of rock and soil that have been saturated with water.

Flows – Earth Flow, Mudflow: A rapid movement of a large mass of mud formed by water and soil.

Talus Creep: Fan shaped pile of rubble formed by a fall.

Slide –Rockslide: Occur when large sections of rock break loose and rapidly slip down to the base of a slope.

Avalanche: A rapid flow of snow, ice, earth and rack masses.

Fall : Rock fall: When individual rocks fall down a slope creating a fan shaped pile at the bottom of a slope.

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