AVALANCHES

Avalanches
Salt Lake Community College, Elementary Physics

Kyler Bagley, Alexis Franz, Zach Robinson, John Daluz
4/20/2014




This paper contains information on different types of avalanches as well as information on safety gear
needed in order to stay safe in case of an avalanche. Also included in the paper is the basic physics
behind an avalanche. Keep in mind avalanches are extremely dangerous and are to be taken very
seriously.
Avalanches

Introduction
The word avalanche originated in the late 18
th
century from the French and is an altered version
of the Alpine dialect lavanche. Avalanches are also referred to as snow-slides or snow-slips.
Snow avalanches are an active erosion agent and have been a known natural disaster since man
has been dwelling on the mountains. Small avalanches, or sluffs, occur in uncounted numbers
each winter, while the larger avalanches are infrequent and cause the most amount of destruction.
Larger avalanches have tons of snow that can be up to several miles wide. Avalanches were
used during World War 1 as super-weapons, the soldiers would just simply bomb the mountain
and it would cause an avalanche and there were up to 40,000 soldiers killed by avalanches during
WW1. Avalanches arent all bad though, one positive outcome of an avalanche is clearing of
trees and other objects, which makes it easier for animals and humans to travel along the
mountain in the warmer months.

Causes of Avalanches
Avalanches can either be man-induced or natural. The man-induced avalanches can be very scary
as well as very effective. The effective use of a man-induced avalanche would be in a ski resort,
where they bomb the mountain to cause an avalanche that way no one gets hurt while
skiing/snowboarding. By causing the avalanche to occur, it clears out the chances of anyone
getting seriously injured while they are up on the mountain. The scary type of man-induced
avalanches would be when skiing/snowboarding back-country, or out of bounds from a ski
resort. Since they are not maintained by the ski resort, anything could happen. The best thing to
do if you start an avalanche while skiing/snowboarding back-country would be to turn, and go
horizontal to the avalanche, skiing out of it because most likely the avalanche wont start out
very wide. Spontaneous avalanche (nature-induced) are caused either by gravity, which causes
the snow to weaken, or by increased snow fall, which makes the snowpack heavy, creating an
avalanche. Seismic activity can also trigger an avalanche.

Types of Avalanches
Avalanches are most common on mountains that have an angle greater than 30 degrees and there
are several different types of avalanches that can occur based on the terrain. There are three main
types of avalanches that include slab, powder, and wet snow avalanches. Avalanches are caused
by different fractures in the snow, for example a crown fracture is the top fracture in an
avalanche and is typically perpendicular to bed surface of the avalanche. A flank fracture is on
the sides of an avalanche and both the crown and flank fractures are basically vertical walls in
the snow.
Avalanches


Slab Avalanches
The most common avalanche would be known as the slab avalanche. Slab avalanches make up
about 90% of all avalanches, and they can be caused either naturally by temperature changes and
ice/rock falls, and they can also be caused by humans who are snowmobiling, skiing, and
snowboarding. Slab avalanches can also be caused by animals just simply walking in the wrong
area. Slab avalanches are formed mostly because of snow being deposited or redeposited by
wind. They appear to be a block like structure that have a crown fracture at the top of the start-
zone and flank fractures on the sides of the start-zone. There is also a fracture at the bottom of
the avalanche called the staunch wall. What happens in a slab avalanche is the crown and flank
fractures de-line the snow and causes it to start sliding, causing the avalanche. Slabs can vary in
thickness, anywhere from a few centimeters to several feet deep.

Powder Snow Avalanches
These avalanches consist of a large powder snow covering an extremely dense avalanche
underneath. This particular type of avalanche can be formed with any type of snow, but most
commonly it consists of fresh dry powder snow. Powder avalanches usually start with a point
release. Point release is where the avalanche starts from a single spot, not like a slab avalanche,
which is just a shelf of snow that breaks loose and starts to slide. Powder avalanches are
deceiving because underneath the powder is a normal avalanche.

Wet Snow Avalanches
These avalanches are one of the most dangerous avalanches because it literally plows everything
in its way, including trees and even boulders sometimes. This particular type of avalanche can
start either as a point release or as a slab, and can be triggered by anything. Whether it is
triggered by a skier, animal, or seismic action, be sure to get out of the way because once your
caught, theres no escaping until the avalanche reaches the run out. The run out of any avalanche
is just the end, where all of the snow comes to a rest and all of the debris that it brought down
with it is also going to be left here. The debris left from the avalanche isnt always bad because
animals can use them in the spring time to build their houses. Beavers can use the broken trees to
build dams in nearby rivers.



Avalanches

Energy Transfer
With all different types of avalanches, as its acceleration increases down the mountain, the
potential energy decreases while the kinetic energy decreases.
Safety and Rescue
While exploring in un-marked or avalanche territory you should be aware of the different types
of hazards and prepared yourself with the appropriate safety gear. By using this safety gear it
will not prevent you from getting caught in an avalanche, but will provide a much higher chance
of survival. To higher your chances of survival during an avalanche you will need an avalanche
airbag backpack, avalanche transceiver which sends electronic signals to other transceivers
which give people a better idea of where you could be buried, snow shovel, and you could also
purchase an avalanche safety kit. Frequently practice with these items, especially the avalanche
transceiver its extremely important you use them effectively to help find a buried companion.
When minutes count the stress levels are high, you do not want to be wasting time trying to
remember how to use them.

Conclusion
All types of avalanches are dangerous and should be avoided if possible. Everyone should use
avalanche safety gear while out of bounds skiing, or even in bounds after a storm. Being safe in
avalanche territory is the number one priority because avalanches are powerful and can cause a
lot of damage, even death.

Avalanches

Work Cited
LaChapelle, E. (n.d.). Snow Avalanche. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from
http://www.avalanche.org
Loose Snow Avalanche. (n.d.). Loose Snow Avalanche. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from
http://www.fsavalanche.org/encyclopedia/loose_snow_avalanche.htm
Slab Avalanches. (n.d.). Slab Avalanches. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from
http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wiki/Avalanches/Slab-Avalanches
Engineers study physics of avalanches. (n.d.). Cornell Graduate School. Retrieved April 29, 2014,
from http://www.gradschool.cornell.edu/news/engineers-study-physics-avalanches