Activity 7

LANDSLIDES AND OTHER MASS MOVEMENTS

1. Define mass movement. How does mass movement differ from erosional agents such as
streams, glaciers, and wind?
The dislodging of sediments that causes them to migrate is known as erosion. Sediment
transport mechanisms such as wind, water, glaciers, and so on can then transfer the particles
away. In rockslides, mudflows, and slumps, mass movement refers to earth materials sliding
downslope under the effect of gravity.

2. In what sort of landscape are rapid mass movement processes most likely to occur? Describe
how these geologic hazards might become geologic risks.
In areas of rugged, geologically young mountains, the most fast and dramatic mass wasting
processes occur.
Landslides occur when newly created mountains are eroded by rivers and glaciers into locations
with steep and unstable slopes.

3. Sketch or describe how mass movement combines with stream erosion to expand valleys.
After weathering weakens and breaks down rock, mass wasting transports the debris
downslope, where it is frequently carried away by a storm acting as a conveyor belt.
The significance of mass-wasting mechanisms in supplying material to streams is demonstrated
by the fact that most stream valleys are broader than they are deep.

4. Describe the relationship between earthquakes and landslides.

-Can be a trigger for landslides/mass wasting
-An earthquake and its aftershocks can dislodge enormous volumes of rock and unconsolidated
material

5. What factors increase the risks of landslides?

That trigger landslide movement include heavy rainfall, erosion, poor construction practices,
freezing and thawing, earthquake shaking, and volcanic eruptions.

6. List and sketch three ways material can move during mass movement.

Slides, Falls, Slump and Creep, and flows are some ways material can be moved.

Fall is when movement in a mass movement event involves the free fall of detached individual pieces of
any size.
7. What factors led to the massive rockslide at Gros Ventre, Wyoming?

The river had cut through the tilted sandstone bed, which could no longer retain its place over
the wet clay substrate.

8. How is a lahar different from a debris flow that might occur in southern California? Contrast
earthflows and debris flows.
Lahar- debris flows composed mostly of volcanic material
Debris flow-composed of well mixed mud, soil, rock and water.

9. Describe the basic mechanisms that contribute to creep. How might you recognize that creep is
occurring?
type of mass wasting that involves the gradual downhill movement of soil and regolith.
Creep is indicated by curved tree trunks, bent fences or retaining walls, tilted poles or fences,
and small soil ripples or ridges.

10. During what season does solifluction in the Arctic occur? Explain why it occurs only during that
season.
Summer
Solifluction happens during the summer thaw when the water in the soil is trapped there by
frozen permafrost beneath it.

STREAMS AND FLOODS

1. What role do streams serve during the hydrologic cycle?

Modify landscape and provide avenues for travel, sediments, energy, irrigation, etc.

2. Describe the four different types of drainage networks.

 dendritic, radial, rectangular, trellis

3. How does discharge vary according to the stream’s length, and how does weather affect
discharge?
Due to the addition of water from tributaries and rainfall on the path to the sea, discharge
increases steadily in a wet environment. Because the stream is subjected to significant
evaporation and very little rainfall in a dry climate, discharge may drop downstream.

4. Why is average downstream velocity always less than maximum downstream velocity?
At the contact with sediment, water encounters friction and moves more slowly than at the
surface near the middle of the stream.

5. Describe how streams erode the Earth’s surface.

By eroding, moving, and depositing material, streams sculpt and form the earth's surface.
Streams change the earth's surface more than glaciers, waves on a beach, and wind do by
removing silt from raised places and generating landforms composed of deposited sediment
in lower locations.
6. Distinguish between a stream’s competence and capacity.
A stream's competence is how big the particles are in a stream and capacity is how much
sediment is transported.

7. Describe how the character of a drainage network changes, along its length,
from headwaters to mouth.
Many minor tributary channels are found around the source of drainage networks. These
channels merge as they get further away from the source, forming a single primary channel.

8. How does a braided stream differ from a meandering stream? What is a floodplain? What is
the difference between a seasonal flood and a floodplain flood?
Many subparallel braided channel strands make up a braided stream. A single very sinuous
channel makes up a meandering stream.
The broad, flat region surrounding a river that is not actively downcutting; it is carved by
lateral erosion of meander cutbanks and built up by deposition of sediments during floods.
Seasonal flooding is a common disturbance in floodplain landscapes. Along with other
processes, regular flooding generates shifts in the location of diverse aquatic and terrestrial
floodplain habitat patches. A flood plain is an area of flat land alongside a river. This area
gets covered in water when the river floods.

9. What activities tend to increase flood risk and damage? What is the recurrence interval of a
flood, and how is it related to the annual probability?
There is a higher chance of flooding as there is an increase in surface run-off. Vegetation -
trees and plants absorb water, this is known as interception. 
Recurrence Interval: usually measured in years. It is the average interval between floods of a
particular size. Therefore, on average, a 100-year flood will occur at regular intervals of 100
 years. The Annual Probability is the probability (expressed as a percentage) that a flood of
that magnitude or greater will occur in a given year.

10. How have humans abused and overused the resource of running water?
Humans have polluted waterways, overdrawn streams for irrigation, altered sediment
supply and ecosystems due to dam construction, and urbanized and agriculturalized
floodplains.

OCEANS AND COASTAL PROBLEMS

1. How much of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans? What proportion of the world’s
population lives near a coast?
71%
40% of the world's population

2. Where does the salt in the ocean come from? How do the salinity and temperature in
the ocean vary?
Salt in the ocean comes from rocks on land.
Temperatures range from -2° C to 28° C in most cases, but are hotter near hydrothermal
vents or closer to land. Salinity is usually 35 ppt (parts per thousand), but can range
from 28-41 ppt and is highest in the northern Red Sea.

3. What factors control the direction of surface currents in the ocean? What is the Coriolis
effect, and how does it affect oceanic circulation? Explain thermohaline circulation. 
Global winds, the Coriolis effect, and continental deflections
The Coriolis effect causes surface currents in the northern hemisphere to veer toward
the right and surface currents in the southern hemisphere to veer toward the left of the
average wind direction.
Water rises and sinks due to density changes induced by temperature and salinity
variances.

4. What causes the tides? Why do the range and reach of tides vary with location?
High and low tides are caused by the moon.
 Over the course of a month, the distance between the moon and Earth fluctuates by
around 31,000 miles due to the moon's eccentric orbit around the Earth.

5. Describe the motion of water molecules in a wave. How does wave refraction cause
longshore currents?
In a water wave all particles travel in clockwise circles.
The wave's leading edge slows in the shallows as it reaches the coast, bending or
refracted the wave's leading edge.

6. Describe the components of a beach profile. How does beach sand migrate as a result of
longshore currents?
A cross section drawn perpendicular to the shore, illustrates the shape of a beach.
Waves swell the sand as they approach shore, commencing where the wave base
crosses the bottom and working their way up the beach face to keep the swash to a
minimum.

7. Discuss the different types of coastal wetlands. Describe the different kinds of reefs, and
how a reef surrounding an oceanic island change with time.

Salt marshes, Freshwater marshes, Seagrass beds, Mangrove swamps, Forested

swamps.
The three main types of coral reefs are fringing, barrier, atoll and patch.
Fringing reefs grow near the coastline around islands and continents. 
Barrier reefs also parallel the coastline but are separated by deeper, wider lagoons. 
Atolls are rings of coral that create protected lagoons and are usually located in the
middle of the sea. 
Patch reefs are small, isolated reefs that grow up from the open bottom of the island
platform or continental shelf. 
Eventually reef itself sinks too far below sea level to remain alive and it becomes the cap
of a guyot.

8. How do plate tectonics, sea-level changes, sediment supply, and climate change affect
the shape of a coastline? Explain the difference between emergent and submergent
coasts.

Tectonic setting of a coast plays a role in determining whether the coast has steep sided
mountain slopes or a broad plain that borders the sea

Emergent: Along certain beaches, land is rising and terraces are forming.

Submergent: land sinks relative to sea level causes estuaries and fjords.

9. In what ways do people try to modify or “stabilize” coasts? How do the

 actions of people threaten coastal areas?

Using groins, jetties, breakwaters, and sea walls, people endeavor to change or stabilize
coastlines. Sand accumulates in groins, jetties, and breakwaters, which must be
dredged, making them difficult to deal with. Wave force is reflected back at the shore by
sea walls, wiping away sand and allowing waves to undercut themselves.

10. Where do hurricanes form, and how can they affect coasts?

Hurricanes form over the ocean,

Can cause coastal erosion through storm surges, the decrease of wetland area, and
change wetland morphology and elevation.

Part 2

Landslides and Mass movement

1. Heavy rains in late July 2010 triggered the mass movement that occurred in this
mountain valley near Durango, Colorado. Heavy equipment is clearing away
material that blocked railroad tracks and significantly narrowed the adjacent stream
channel. Was this event more likely a rockfall, creep, or a debris flow? Most of us
are familiar with the phrase “One thing leads to another.” It certain applies to the
Earth system. Suppose the material from the mass movement event.

Debris flow

2. think it is likely that landslides frequently occur on the Moon? Explain why or why
not.

Landslides and avalanches are not likely to occur on the Moon since there is no
water.

Streams and floods

Oceans and Coastal Problems

1. Assume that it is late September 2018, and Hurricane Gordon, a category 5

storm, is projected to follow the path shown on the accompanying map. The
path of the arrow represents the path of the hurricane’s eye.

a. Should the city of Houston expect to experience Gordon’s fastest winds and
greatest storm surge? Explain why or why not.

No, the hurricane will do more damage in the northeast city.

b. What is the greatest threat to life and property if this storm approaches the
Dallas–Fort Worth area? Explain your reasoning.

Heavy rainstorms may hit Dallas-Fort Worth.

2. You and a friend set up an umbrella and chairs at a beach. Your friend then goes
into the surf zone to play Volleyball with another person. Several minutes later,
your friend looks back toward the beach and is surprised to see that she is no
longer near where the umbrella and chairs were set up. Although she is still in
the surf zone, she is 25 meters away from where she started. How would you
explain to your friend why she moved along the shore?

Because of the currents created by waves, sand grains travel along the shore
and up and down beaches. When waves approach shallow water, they break,
causing turbulence.
3. The force of gravity plays a critical role in creating ocean tides. The more
massive an object, the stronger its gravitational pull. Explain why the Sun’s
influence is only about half that of the Moon, even though the Sun is much
more massive than the Moon.

The reason is that it is the difference between gravitational force on the near
and far side of the earth that causes the tides (versus the center of mass), not
the gravitational force itself.