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Creep has caused the soil to spread over this pavement. Creep can also be caused by the expansion of materials such as clay when they are exposed to water. Clay expands when wet, then contracts after drying. The expansion portion pushes downhill, then the contraction results in consolidation at the new offset. Objects resting on top of the soil ...
A landslide, also called a landslip, [10] is a relatively rapid movement of a large mass of earth and rocks down a hill or a mountainside. Landslides can be further classified by the importance of water in the mass wasting process. In a narrow sense, landslides are rapid movement of large amounts of relatively dry debris down moderate to steep ...
Some landslides are complex in the sense that they feature different movement types in different portions of the moving body, or they evolve from one movement type to another over time. For example, a landslide can initiate as a rock fall or topple and then, as the blocks disintegrate upon the impact, transform into a debris slide or flow.
Sudden slumps usually occur after earthquakes or heavy continuing rains, and can stabilize within a few hours. Most slumps develop over comparatively longer periods, taking months or years to reach stability. An example of a slow-moving slump is the Swift Creek Landslide, a deep-seated rotational slump located on Sumas Mountain, Washington.
Both surface deformation and faulting and shaking-related geological effects (e.g., soil liquefaction, landslides) not only leave permanent imprints in the environment, but also dramatically affect human structures. Moreover, underwater fault ruptures and seismically triggered landslides can generate tsunami waves.
There have been known various classifications of landslides. Broad definitions include forms of mass movement that narrower definitions exclude. For example, the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology distinguishes the following types of landslides: fall (by undercutting) fall (by toppling) slump; rockslide; earthflow; sinkholes ...
Soil creep; Tree throw; Movement of soil by burrowing animals; Slumping and landsliding of the hillslope; These processes generally combine to give the hillslope a profile that looks like a solution to the diffusion equation, where the diffusivity is a parameter that relates to the ease of sediment transport on the particular hillslope. For ...
This talus accumulation is an example of colluvium. Colluviation refers to the buildup of colluvium at the base of a hillslope. [1] [2] Colluvium is typically loosely consolidated angular material located at the base of a steep hill slope or cliff. Colluvium accumulates as gently sloping aprons or fans, either at the base of or within gullies ...