A landslide is the movement of rock, earth, or debris down a sloped section of land. Landslides are caused by rain, earthquakes, volcanoes, or other factors that make the slope unstable . Geologists, scientists who study the physical formations of the Earth, sometimes describe landslides as one type of mass wasting.
What primary force causes landslides?
Triggering events such as earthquakes, heavy rain, or upsetting the inclined surface through digging can help to initiate a landslide, but gravity is always the primary force that enables any landslide to occur, regardless of how that landslide was triggered.
What are the main causes of landslides?
Landslides are caused by disturbances in the natural stability of a slope . They can accompany heavy rains or follow droughts, earthquakes, or volcanic eruptions. Mudslides develop when water rapidly accumulates in the ground and results in a surge of water-saturated rock, earth, and debris.
What are the major causes and impacts of landslides?
Factors that trigger landslide movement include heavy rainfall, erosion, poor construction practices, freezing and thawing, earthquake shaking, and volcanic eruptions . Landslides are typically associated with periods of heavy rainfall or rapid snowmelt and tend to worsen the effects of flooding.
What are the 2 main triggers for landslides?
Landslides can be initiated in slopes already on the verge of movement by rainfall, snowmelt, changes in water level, stream erosion, changes in ground water, earthquakes, volcanic activity, disturbance by human activities , or any combination of these factors.
What are 4 types of landslides?
They are classified into four main types: fall and toppling, slides (rotational and translational), flows and creep .
What is landslide and its effects?
The impact of a landslide can be extensive, including loss of life, destruction of infrastructure, damage to land and loss of natural resources . Landslide material can also block rivers and increase the risk of floods. ... After Tropical Storm Stan in 2005, landslides caused the watersheds in Guatemala to collapse.
What are the human activities that causes landslides?
Human activities can increase landslide risks. They include clear-cutting, mining and quarrying, bad agricultural practices, and construction activities .
How can we prevent landslide?
There are also various direct methods of preventing landslides; these include modifying slope geometry , using chemical agents to reinforce slope material, installing structures such as piles and retaining walls, grouting rock joints and fissures, diverting debris pathways, and rerouting surface and underwater drainage.
Can landslides be predicted?
To be able to predict landslides, scientists have developed slope stability models to analyze the risk locally . More recently, NASA has created a preliminary algorithm to map landslide hazards globally using satellite measurements of rainfall, land cover and other surface variables.
What are the positive effects of landslides?
As with all natural hazards, landslides offer some important service functions. Thus, the positive effects of landslides are: creating new habitats, increasing biodiversity, providing raw materials and can be good tools for studying the environment.
How do landslides affect humans?
People affected by landslides can also have short- and long-term mental health effects due to loss of family, property, livestock or crops. Landslides can also greatly impact the health system and essential services, such as water, electricity or communication lines.
What are the main causes of landslides Class 8?
Causes for Landslides
Landslides may be caused by snowmelt, rainfall, water level changes, groundwater changes, stream flooding, volcanic activity, earthquakes , intrusion by human activities, or any combination of these causes, in slopes that are on the verge of movement.
Where do landslides happen the most?
Globally, the highest numbers of fatalities from landslides occur in the mountains of Asia and Central and South America , as well as on steep islands in the Caribbean and Southeast Asia. Wherever slopes are steep, there is a chance that they will fail.
What are the six 6 major landslide triggering mechanism?
The most common natural landslide triggers are described in this chapter, including intense rainfall, rapid snowmelt, water-level change, volcanic erup- tion, and earthquake shaking , and examples are pro- vided in which observations or measurements have documented the relationship between triggers and landslides.
What is landslide hazard?
Landslides include a wide range of phenomena involving downslope ground movement , such as rockfalls, deep slope failure, shallow debris flows, and avalanches. Erosion and undercutting of slopes by streams, rivers, glaciers, or waves increase slope angles and decrease slope stability. ...
