Mass-Wasting

Movement of Large Amounts of

Material Downhill under Gravity

Soil Creep

Soil Creep

Soil Creep

Soil Creep, California

Colluvium, San Bernardino

Mountains, California

Mystery or Soil Creep?

Four Years Mass-Wasting, Bosnia

Four Years Mass-Wasting, Bosnia

100*40/2 cm2 = 2000
cm2 (4 years)
= 500 cm2 /year
Removed from 1 km
slope per year =
500 cm2 /100,000 cm
= 1 cm/200 yr
= 5000 cm (50 m)/m.y.
= 50m /m.y.

A 1-m (100 cm) soil mantle

yields 500 cm2 /year, so
movement
= 500 cm2 /year/100 cm
= 5 cm/year

Mudflows, California

Urban Planning, San Diego

Avalanche Chute, Colorado

Rockfalls, Yosemite, California

Landslide, Mount Saint Helens

Slide Lake, Wyoming

Sherman Glacier, Alaska,

March 27, 1964

Viaont, Italy, October 9, 1963

1800 people died.

Yungay, Peru, May 31, 1970

Yungay, Peru, May 31, 1970

Lituya Bay, Alaska, July 9, 1958

Lituya Bay,
Before and
After

The Scour Line

The Highest Wave Ever Recorded