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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.
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.
A smoothly polished surface caused by frictional movement between rocks along the two sides of a fault. This surface is normally striated in the direction of movement. slump A form of mass wasting that occurs when a coherent mass of loosely consolidated materials or rock layers moves a short distance down a slope. snowball Earth
Gully – Landform created by running water and/or mass movement eroding sharply into soil; Hill – Landform that extends above the surrounding terrain; Hillock, also known as Knoll – Small hill; Mesa – Elevated area of land with a flat top and sides, usually much wider than buttes; Mountain pass – Route through a mountain range or over ...
Amongst these erosional properties, water is arguably the most effective geologic agent that causes mass-wasting events to occur. Water aids in the downslope movement of surface material by adding weight to the soil and by filling pores which tends to push apart individual grains, decreasing the resistance of the material to movement. [4]
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.
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 reason, the tops of ...
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 ...