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A rotational slump occurs when a slump block, composed of sediment or rock, slides along a concave-upward slip surface with rotation about an axis parallel to the slope. [3] Rotational movement causes the original surface of the block to become less steep, and the top of the slump is rotated backward.
Mass wasting, also known as mass movement, [1] is a general term for the movement of rock or soil down slopes under the force of gravity. It differs from other processes of erosion in that the debris transported by mass wasting is not entrained in a moving medium, such as water, wind, or ice.
Its speed can range from being barely noticeable to rapid movement. The velocity of the flow is dictated by water content: the higher the water content is, the higher the velocity will be. [ 1 ] Because of the dependency on water content for the velocity of the flow, it can take minutes or years for the materials to move down the slope.
It refers to the gravity-driven failure and subsequent movement downslope of any types of surface movement of soil, rock, or other debris. The term incorporates earth slides, rock falls, flows, and mudslides, amongst other categories of hillslope mass movements. [12] They do not have to be as fluid as a mudflow.
In traditional usage, the term landslide has at one time or another been used to cover almost all forms of mass movement of rocks and regolith at the Earth's surface. In 1978, geologist David Varnes noted this imprecise usage and proposed a new, much tighter scheme for the classification of mass movements and subsidence processes. [26]
At volcanoes, the term landslide is commonly used for slope movements with shear and displacement in a relatively narrow zone. [7] They can be in the form of debris avalanches, debris flows, slumps and rockfalls. [7] [8] A debris avalanche is a sudden, very rapid flow of rock and soil in response to gravity. It is a common middle stage in the ...
The triggering causes induce the movement of the mass. Predisposition to movement due to control factors is determining in landslide evolution. Structural and geological factors, as already described, can determine the development of the movement, inducing the presence of mass in kinematic freedom.
It is "a striking example of mass wasting (the movement of large masses of earth material)." The Lake Fork of the Gunnison River was dammed by the earthflow, creating Lake San Cristobal. [ 1 ] A second earthflow has been moving continuously for about 300 years over older, stable rock. [ 3 ]