SIO 50 Lecture 13: SIO 50_Cook_Lecture 13

• School: UCSD
• Department: Scripps Institution of Oceanography
• Course: SIO 50
• Professor: Geoffrey Cook

Document Summary

Mass wasting (landslides: down-slope movement of earth materials under the direct influence of gravity. Factors that influence mass wasting: type of material. Solid materials are less likely to fall. Unconsolidated (loose rock/sediment: angle of repose: the maximum angle at which a slope of loose material will lie before cascading down-slope, given material and the angle that the material will fail at. Only for unconsildated loose material: water content. Saturated will help it keep together but too much will cause it to flow and separated. Unsaturated will cacuse it to slip and be subjected to gravity. Usually only with unconsoliated rock, some water content is important: steepness of slope. Steeper slope, more likely to fail, becaue subjected to gravity: vegetation. Root systems hold material together and remove h20 from the ground. Removal of vegetation through natural or human means (fire, deforestation) leads to erosion faster. Some causes of mass wasting: natural causes.