Surface Processes

Introduction

• Earth is a dynamic body.

• Some parts of earth’s surface are gradually elevated by mountain building

and volcanic activity. Such processes are internal and derive their energy
from earth’s interior.

• Opposing external/surface processes are continually breaking rock apart

and moving the debris to lower elevations. Such processes include:

1. Weathering

2. Mass wasting

3. Erosion
 Weathering
• Definition

Weathering - physical breakdown (disintegration) and chemical alteration

(decomposition) of rocks at or near the earth’s surface.

Can be mechanical or chemical

i. Mechanical weathering - accomplished by physical forces that break the

rock into smaller pieces without changing the rock’s mineral composition

ii. Chemical weathering – chemical transformation of the rock into one or

more new compounds.

 Mechanical weathering
• Results in the breaking down into smaller pieces of the parent rock, each
retaining the characteristic of the original material.

• Leads to an increase in the amount of surface area available for chemical

weathering.

• Three physical processes are especially important in breaking rocks into

smaller fragments:

1. Frost wedging

2. Expansion resulting from unloading

3. Biological activity
 Breakage of rocks into smaller pieces as a result of mechanical
weathering, thereby increasing the surface area for chemical attack
(after Tarbuck & Lutgens, 2006).
 Mechanical weathering
1. Frost wedging
• Repeated cycles of freezing and thawing of water - important process of
mechanical weathering.

• Water has the unique property of expanding about 9 % when it freezes as

the water molecules arrange themselves into a very open crystalline
structure.

• When water freezes, it expands and exerts a tremendous outward force.

 Mechanical weathering
1. Frost wedging (contd..)
• In nature, water works its way into every crack or void in rock and, upon
freezing, expands and enlarges these opening.

• After many freeze-thaw cycles, the rock is broken into pieces.

• Process termed – frost wedging.

Example of frost
wedging (after
Tarbuck & Lutgens,
2006).
 Mechanical weathering
2. Unloading
• When large masses of igneous rocks, particularly those composed of
granite, are exposed by erosion, concentric slabs begin to break loose.

• The process generating these ‘onion-like’ layers is called sheeting.

• Takes place in response to the great reduction in pressure that occurs

when the overlying rock is eroded away.

• Accompanying this unloading, the outer layers expand more than the
rock below and thus separate from the rock body.

• Continued weathering eventually causes the slabs to separate and spall

off, creating exfoliation domes.
Sheeting caused by the expansion of crystalline rock. A) Deeply buried
pluton; B) Uplift and erosion leading to exposure and fracturing into thin
slabs as a result of unloading; C) Summit of Half Dome in Yosemite
National Park, California (after Tarbuck & Lutgens, 2006).
 Mechanical weathering
3. Biological activity - Weathering by the activities of organisms,
including plants, burrowing animals, and humans.

• Plant roots in search of minerals and water grow into fractures, and as
the roots grow, they wedge the rock apart.

• Burrowing animals further break down the rock by moving fresh

material to the surface, where physical and chemical processes can more
effectively attack it.

• Decaying organisms also produce acids, which contribute to chemical

weathering. Where rock has been blasted in search of minerals or road
construction, the impact of humans is particularly noticeable.
Root wedge widens
fractures in rock aiding the
process of mechanical
weathering (after Tarbuck
& Lutgens, 2006).
 Chemical weathering

• Chemical weathering
• Involves the complex processes that alter the internal structures of minerals
by removing and/or adding elements.

• Original rock decomposes into substances that are stable in the surface
environment.

• Products of chemical weathering will remain essentially unchanged as long

as they remain in an environment similar to the one in which they were
formed.
 Chemical weathering
• Agents of chemical weathering
• Most important agent – Water.

• Although pure water is nonreactive, a small amount of dissolved material is

generally all that is needed to activate it.

• Oxygen dissolved in water will oxidize some materials.

• When rocks containing iron-rich minerals oxidize, a yellow to reddish-

brown rust will appear on the surface.
 Chemical weathering
• The principal processes of chemical weathering are:
1. Solution
2. Oxidation
3. Hydrolysis
1. Solution

Soluble rock reacts with water and gases, which remove elements from the
minerals.
H2O + CO2 + CaCO3 Ca+2 + 2HCO3-
water + carbon dioxide + calcite dissolve into calcium ion and bicarbonate ion
Several common minerals dissolve in water
• halite
• calcite

Limestone and marble contain calcite and are soluble in acidic water
 Chemical weathering
2. Oxidation
• Oxygen combines with iron-bearing silicate minerals causing "rusting“.

4Fe+2 +3O2 2Fe2O3

• Iron bearing silicate minerals – Olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, biotite.

• Iron oxides produced – limonite, hematite, goethite

• Iron oxides are red, orange or brown in colour.

• Mafic rocks such as basalt, dolerite, (which may contain olivine and
pyroxene) weather by oxidation to an orange colour.
 Chemical weathering
3. Hydrolysis
• Silicate minerals weather by hydrolysis to form clays.

• CO2 dissolved in H2O forms carbonic acid (H2CO3).

• Rain dissolves some CO2 as it falls through the atmosphere, and

additional amounts released by decaying organic matter are acquired as
the water percolates through the soil.

• Carbonic acid ionizes to form the very reactive hydrogen ion (H+) and the
bicarbonate ion (HCO3-).
 Chemical weathering

• Chemical weathering of granite

• Granite consists of mainly quartz and K-feldspar. The weathering of the K-
feldspar component takes place as follows:

2KAlSi3O8 + 2(H+ + HCO3-) + H2O Al2Si2O5(OH)4

K-feldspar Carbonic acid Water Clay mineral (Kaolinite)

+ 2K+ + 2HCO3- + 4SiO2

In solution
Chemical weathering of granite
• In the reaction, hydrogen ions attack and replaces K+ in the feldspar
structure, thereby disrupting the crystalline network.

• Once removed, the potassium is available as a nutrient for plants or

becomes the soluble salt potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3), which may be
incorporated into other minerals or carried to the ocean in dissolved form
by streams.
Chemical weathering of granite
• The most abundant products of the chemical breakdown of feldspar are
residual clay minerals.

• Clay minerals are the end product of weathering and are very stable under
surface conditions.

• Clay minerals make up a high percentage of the inorganic material in

soils.
Chemical weathering of granite
• Some silica is removed from the feldspar structure and is carried away by
groundwater.

• Dissolved silica will eventually precipitate to produce nodules of chert or

flint, fill in the pore spaces between the sediment grains, or be carried to the
ocean.

• Quartz, the other main component of granite, is very resistant to chemical

weathering; it remains substantially unaltered when attacked by weakly
acidic solutions.
Chemical weathering of granite
• Thus, when granite weathers, the feldspar crystals dull and slowly turn to
clay, releasing the once interlocked quartz grains,.

• Although some quartz remains in the soil, much is transported to the sea or
to other sites of deposition where it becomes the main constituent of such
features as sandy beaches and sand dunes.

• In time it may become lithified to form the sedimentary rock sandstone.

 MINERAL STABILITY

•Minerals crystallize from a melt at different Quartz

temperatures.
Muscovite
Alkali Feldspar
•Those minerals that crystallize at higher
Biotite
temperatures will be the least stable at the Amphiboles
surface. Pyroxenes
•From this it is obvious that quartz will be the
Ca-rich plagioclase
Olivine
most stable mineral in the weathering
environment, and will be a dominant constituent
of sediments and sedimentary rocks.
 Weathering of Silicate minerals
Mineral Residual products Material in
solution
Quartz Quartz grains Silica
Feldspars Clay minerals Silica
K+, Na+, Ca2+
Amphibole Clay minerals Silica
(Hornblende) Limonite Ca2+, Mg2+
Hematite
Olivine Limonite Silica
Hematite Mg2+
 Spheroidal weathering

• Chemical weathering causes physical changes as well.

• When angular rock masses are attacked by water that enters along joints,
the rocks tend to take on a spherical shape.

• Gradually, corners and edges of the angular blocks become more rounded.

• Corners are attacked most readily because of their greater surface area, as
compared to the edges and faces.

• Process is referred to as spheroidal weathering and gives the rock a more

rounded or spherical shape.
 Spheroidal weathering (contd..)

• During the process successive shells separate from the rock’s main body.

• Outer shells spall off, allowing the chemical weathering activity to penetrate
deeper into the boulder.

• As minerals in rock weather to clay, they increase in size through the

addition of water to their structure.

• Increased bulk exerts an outward force that causes concentric layers of rock
to break loose and fall off.

• Hence, chemical weathering does produce forces great enough to cause

mechanical weathering.
Spheroidal weathering in granite (after
Tarbuck & Lutgens, 2006).
 Rates of weathering

• Factors affecting the type and rate of rock weathering:

1. Rock characteristics

2. Climate
 Rock characteristics
• Encompasses all of the chemical traits of rocks, including mineral
composition and solubility.

• Any physical features, such as joints (cracks) - influence the ability of

water to penetrate rock.

• Variations in chemical weathering rates, due to the mineral constituents,

can be demonstrated by comparing old headstones made from different
rock types. Headstones of granite (composed of silicate minerals) are
relatively resistant to chemical weathering in comparison to marble
headstones (composed of calcite which readily dissolves even in weakly
acidic solution).
 Rock characteristics (contd..)

• The silicate minerals weather in essentially the same sequence as their

order of crystallization.

• Olivine, which is the first mineral to crystallize is the least resistant to

chemical weathering.
 Climate
• Temperature and moisture are crucial to the rate of rock weathering.

• The frequency of freeze-thaw cycles greatly affects the amount of frost

wedging.

• Temperature and moisture also exert a strong influence on the rates of

chemical weathering and on the kind of vegetation present.

• Regions with abundant vegetation generally have a thick mantle of soil rich in
decayed organic matter from which chemically active fluids such as carbonic
and humic acids are derived.
 Climate (contd..)

• Optimum environment for chemical weathering - combination of warm

temperatures and abundant moisture.

• In polar regions chemical weathering is ineffective because frigid

temperatures keep available moisture locked up as ice, whereas in arid
regions, there is insufficient moisture to foster rapid chemical weathering.
SOILS
 Introduction
• Along with air and water, soil is one of our most indispensable resources.

• Once weathering and other processes create soil, plants carry out the
intermediary role of assimilating the necessary elements making them
available to animals, including humans.

• Soil is a material that develops in response to complex environmental

interactions among different parts of the earth system.

• Over time, soil gradually evolves to a state of equilibrium or balance with

the environment

• Soil is dynamic and sensitive to almost every aspect of its surroundings.

 Definition

• Soil is a combination of mineral and organic matter, water, and air -

that portion of regolith that supports the growth of plants

(Regolith – the layer of rock and mineral produced by weathering.)

• About one half of the total volume of a good-quality surface soil is a

mixture of disintegrated and decomposed rock (mineral matter) and
humus, the decayed remains of animal and plant life (organic matter).

• The remaining half consists of pore spaces among the solid particles where
air and water circulate.
Composition (by volume) of a soil in good condition
for plant growth (after Tarbuck & Lutgens, 2006)
• Humus - essential component as it enhances the soil’s ability to retain water.

• Because plants require air and water to live and grow, the portion of the soil
consisting of pore spaces that allow for the circulation of these fluids is as vital
as the solid soil constituents.

• Soil water - complex solution containing many soluble nutrients. Provides the
necessary moisture for the chemical reactions that sustain life; it also supplies
plants with nutrients in a form they can use.

• The pore spaces not filled with water contain air which is the source of
necessary O2 and CO2 for most microorganisms and plants that live in the soil.
 Controls of soil formation
• Soil - product of the complex interplay of several factors. Most important:

1. Parent material

2. Time

3. Climate

4. Plants & animals

5. Topography

All of these factors are interdependent.

1. Parent material
• The source of the weathered mineral matter from which soils develop.

• A major factor influencing a newly forming soil.

• May be the underlying bedrock, or it can be a layer of unconsolidated

deposits.

• When it is bedrock, the soils are termed residual soils.

• Those developed on unconsolidated sediment are called transported soils.

1. Parent material (contd.)
• The nature of the parent material influences soils in two ways:

1. The type

Affects the rate of weathering and thus the rate of soil formation.

Unconsolidated deposits provide more surface area for chemical

weathering; soil development on such material usually progresses rapidly.

2. The chemical makeup

Affects the soil’s fertility.

Influences the character of the natural vegetation the soil can support.
2. Time
• Important component of every geological process.

• The nature of soil is strongly influenced by the length of time that

processes have been operating.

• If weathering has been going on for a comparatively short time, the parent
material determines to a large extent the characteristics of the soil.

• As weathering processes continue, the influence of the parent material on

soil is overshadowed by the other soil-forming factors, especially climate.

• The longer a soil has been forming, the thicker it becomes and the less it
resembles the parent material.
3. Climate
• Most influential control of soil formation

• Variations in temperature and precipitation

determine whether chemical or mechanical weathering predominates;

greatly influence the rate and depth of weathering.

• A hot, wet climate may produce a thick layer of chemically weathered soil
in the same amount of time that a cold, dry climate produces a thin mantle
of mechanically weathered debris.
3. Climate (contd..)

• Amount of precipitation also influences the degree to which various

materials are removed from the soil, thereby affecting soil fertility.

• Climatic conditions are important factors controlling the type of plant and
animal life present.
4. Plants and animals
• Plants and animals furnish organic matter to the soil.

• Certain bog soils are composed almost entirely of organic matter, whereas
desert soils may contain only a tiny percentage.

• The primary source of organic matter is plants. When organic matter

decomposes, important nutrients are supplied to plants, as well as to
animals and microorganisms living in the soil.

• Soil fertility thus depends in part on the amount of organic matter present.

• Decay of plant and animal remains causes the formation of various organic
acids which hasten the process of weathering.
4. Plants and animals (contd..)

• Organic matter also has a high water-holding ability and thus aids water
retention in soil.

• Microorganisms play an active role in the decay of plant and animal

remains → Humus

• Certain microorganisms aid soil fertility because they have the ability to
convert atmospheric nitrogen gas into soil nitrogen compounds.

• Earthworms and other burrowing animals act to mix the mineral and
organic portions of a soil. Burrow and holes also aid the passage of water
and air through soil.
5. Topography
• Variations in topography can lead to the development of a variety of
localized soil types.

• On steep slopes, soils are often poorly developed. Little water can soak in,
and as a result, soil moisture may be insufficient for vigorous plant growth.
Also, because of accelerated erosion on steep slopes, the soils are thin or
nonexistent.
5. Topography (contd..)
• Water logged soils in poorly drained bottomlands have a much different
character. Such soils are usually thick and dark.

• Dark colour results from the large quantity of organic matter that
accumulates because saturated conditions retard the decay of vegetation.

• Optimum terrain for soil development – flat to undulating upland surface –

good drainage, minimum erosion, and sufficient infiltration of water into
the soil.
5. Topography (contd..)

• Slope orientation is also significant – a south-facing slope facing slope

receives a great deal more sunlight than does a north-facing slope in the
midlatitudes of the northern hemisphere.

• The difference in the amount of solar radiation received causes substantial

differences in soil temperature and moisture, which in turn may influence
the nature of the vegetation and the character of the soil.
 NOTE

• All of the soil forming factors work together to form soil.

• No single factor is responsible for a soil being as it is.

• Combined influence of parent material, time, climate, plants and

animals, and topography determines a soil character.
 The Soil Profile
• Soil-forming processes operate from the surface downward.

• Variations in composition, texture, structure and colour gradually evolve at

varying depths.

• Vertical differences divide the soil into zones or layers known as horizons.

• A vertical section through all of the soil horizons constitutes the soil
profile.

• The characteristics and extent of development of horizons vary in different

environments.

• Different localities exhibit soil profiles that can contrast greatly with one
another.
Idealized soil profile form a humid climate (after
Tarbuck & Lutgens, 2006)
Soil profile contd..

• Solum - soil-forming processes are active and living roots and other plant
and animal life are largely confined.

• C-horizon - parent material is easily identifiable. Although undergoing

changes that will eventually transform it into soil, it has not yet crossed the
threshold that separates regolith from soil.

• Boundaries between soil horizons can be very distinct or the horizons may
blend gradually from one to another.
Soil profile contd..

• A well developed soil profile indicates that environmental conditions have

been relatively stable over an extended period and that the soil is mature.

• Some soils lack horizons altogether. Such soils are called immature
because soil building has been going on for only a short time.

• Immature soils are also characteristic of steep slopes, where erosion

continually strips away the soil, preventing full development.
Mass Wasting
Definition of Mass wasting

• Mass wasting -movement in which bedrock, rock debris, or soil moves

downslope in bulk, or as a mass, under the direct influence of gravity.

• Includes movement so slow that it is almost imperceptible (creep) as well

as landslides (a general term for the slow to very rapid descent of rock or
soil).
 Classification of Mass wasting

1. Rate of movement – a wide range of velocities from less than 1 cm/year

to velocities greater than 4 km/hour

2. Type of material – Earth, mud, debris or rock

3. Type of movement – Flow, slide or fall.

Flow - descending mass is moving downslope as a viscous fluid.

Slide - descending mass remains relatively intact, moving along one or

more well-defined surfaces.

A fall occurs when material free-falls or bounces down a cliff.

Some types of mass wasting (after Plummer et al., 2005)
Illustration of flow, slide and fall (after Plummer et al., 2005)
 Factors controlling mass wasting

• Oversteepened slopes

• Relief

• Thickness of debris over bedrock

• Water and ice

• Vegetation

• Orientation of planes of weakness in bedrock

• Climate
Summary of controls of mass wasting (after Plummer et al., 2005)
Driving force : Gravity
Contributing factors Most stable situation Most unstable situation
Slope angle Gentle slopes or horizontal Steep or vertical
surfaces
Relief Low High
Thickness of overburden Slight thickness Great thickness
Orientation of planes of Planes at right angles to hillside Planes parallel to hillside
weakness in bedrock slopes slopes
Climatic factors:
Ice Temperature stays above Freezing and thawing for much
freezing of the year
Water in soil or debris Film of water around fine Saturation of debris with water
particles
Precipitation Frequent but light rainfall or Long periods of drought with
snow rare episodes of heavy
precipitation
Vegetation Heavily vegetated Sparsely vegetated
Triggering mechanisms: 1) Earthquakes; 2) weight added to upper part of slope;
3) undercutting of bottom of slope; 4) heavy rainfall
 Gravity – the driving force for mass wasting
• The effect of gravity is resolvable into
two components: the normal force
which is perpendicular to the slope and
tend to hold the block in place; and the
shear force which is parallel to the slope
and indicates the block’s ability to move.
• The steeper the slope, the greater is the
shear force and the tendency for the
block to slide.
• Shear resistance – force that would be
needed to move the block. If greater
than shear force, the block will not move.
• Magnitude of shear resistance is a
function of friction and size of normal
force.
Relationship of Shear force and normal force to gravity
(after Plummer et al., 2005)
Gravity – the driving force for mass wasting (contd..)

• Shear resistance will be reduced if water or ice reduces the friction beneath
the block. If shear resistance becomes lower than the shear force, the block
will slide.

• Similar forces act on debris on a hillside.

Forces acting on a point in a debris

(after Plummer et al, 2005)
Gravity – the driving force for mass wasting (contd..)

• The resistance to movement or deformation of the material is its shear

strength which is controlled by factors such as the cohesiveness of the
material, friction between particles, and (the anchoring effect of plant
roots). Most important cohesion (c) and friction (φ).

• If the shear strength is greater than the shear force, the debris will not move
or be deformed.

• However, if shear strength is less than shear force, the material will flow or
slide.
Water – critical factor in mass wasting
• When debris is saturated with water, it becomes heavier and less viscous,
and is more likely to flow downslope.

• Added gravitational force from the increased weight is less important than
the reduction in shear strength.

• This is due to increased pore pressure in which water forces grains apart.

• Increase in pore water pressure can lead to a decrease in the shear strength
of the soil.
Water – critical factor in mass wasting

• A small amount of water in soil on the other hand, can actually prevent
downslope movement.

• When water does not completely fill the pore spaces between the grains of
soil, it forms a thin film around each grain.

• Loose grains adhere to one another because of the surface tension created
by the film of water, and shear strength increases.

• As the amount of water in debris increases, the rate of movement tends to

increase.
 Triggering mechanisms
• A sudden event may trigger mass wasting of a hillside that is unstable.

• Eventually, movement would occur without the triggering if conditions

slowly become more unstable.

• Earthquakes commonly trigger landslides e.g. 1970 debris avalanche in

Peru was one of thousands of landslides triggered by an earthquake; 2001
landslide in El Salvador also triggered by an earthquake.
 Triggering mechanisms
• Heavy rainfall also trigger landslides. The sudden influx of voluminous
water quickly adds weight and increases pore pressure in material.
Examples of landslides triggered by heavy rainstorms include the Gross
Ventre, in Wyomig, Vaiont slide in Italy.

• Construction sometimes triggers mass wasting; for instance, extra weight

of buildings on a hillside can cause landslide, bulldozing a road cut at the
base of a slope.
 Common types of mass wasting
• Creep – very slow, downslope movement of soil or unconsolidated debris.

• Shear forces, over time, are only slightly greater than shear strengths.

• Rate of movement is usually less than a centimetre per year and can be
detected only by observations taken over months or years.

• Two factors that contribute significantly : (i) water in the soil, and

(ii) daily cycles of freezing and thawing.

• Water-saturated ground facilitates movement of soil downhill.

• What keeps downslope movement from becoming more rapid in most areas
is the presence of abundant grass or other plants that anchor the soil.
• Creep (contd..)

• Particles are displaced in cycles of wetting and drying.

• Soil tends to swell when wet and contract when dry so that movement takes
place in a manner similar to that of freeze-thaw cycle.

• During the winter in some regions, temperatures may rise above and fall
below freezing once a day.

• When there is moisture in the soil, each freeze-thaw cycle moves soil
particles in minute amount downhill.

• Not as dramatic as landsliding but can however be costly.

 A B

A) Indicators of creep; B) Tilted gravestones in a churchyard at

Lyme Regis, England (after Plummer et al, 2005).
Debris flow – used where motion is taking place throughout the moving mass
– earthflow, mudflow and debris avalanche

• Earthflows – Debris moves downslope as a viscous fluid.

• Can be slow or rapid.

• Usually occur on hillsides that have a thick cover of debris, often after
heavy rains have saturated the soil.

• Typically, the flowing mass remains covered by a blanket of vegetation,

with a scarp developing where the moving debris has pulled away from the
stationary upper slope.
Debris flow – used where motion is taking place throughout the moving mass
– earthflow, mudflow and debris avalanche

• A landslide may be entirely an earthflow. Commonly, rotational sliding

takes place above the earthflow.

• A hummocky lobe usually forms at the toe or front of the earthflow where
debris has accumulated.

• An earthflow can be active over a period of hours, days, or months.

• Earthflows can also be triggered by humans, undercutting at the base of a

slope caused for example, by waves breaking along shorelines.
Debris flow beneath a blanket of vegetation (after Plummer et
al., 2005)
Earthflow and rotational sliding. A) Debris in upper part
remained mostly intact as it moved in blocks; B) Earthflow in
California in 1995 (after Plummer et al., 2005)
Solifluction and Permafrost

• Solifluction -flow of water-saturated debris over impermeable material.

• Because the impermeable material beneath the debris prevents water from
draining freely, the debris between the vegetation cover and the
impermeable material becomes saturated.

• Impermeable material can be either impenetrable bedrock or, as is

common, permafrost (i.e. ground that remains permanently frozen).

• Most solifluction takes place in areas of permanently frozen ground.

• Permafrost occurs in depths ranging from a few centimetres to a few

metres beneath the surface.
Solifluction and Permafrost

• Above the permafrost is a zone that, if the debris is saturated, is frozen

during the winter and indistinguishable from the underlying permafrost.

• When this zone thaws during the summer, the water, along with water from
rain and runoff, cannot percolate downward through the permafrost and so
the slopes become susceptible to solifluction.

• Building structures and maintaining roads in areas of solifluction and

permafrost represent serious problems.
• Mudflow – a flowing mixture of debris and water, usually moving down a
channel.

• Most of the particles are clay and silt but coarser sediment is commonly
part of the mixture.

• Usually forms after a heavy rainfall or other influx of water and begins
moving downslope.

• Most quickly become channeled into valleys and move down valley like a
stream except that they are viscous.

• Because of its high viscosity, can transport boulders, automobiles, and even
locomotives.

• Most likely to occur in places where debris is not protected by a vegetative

cover.
• Debris avalanche – a very rapid moving, turbulent mass of
debris, air and water. Classic example is the 1970 debris
avalanche in Peru that buried Yungay.

1970 Debris
avalanche in
Peru (after
Plummer et al.,
2005)
 Rockfalls and Rockslides
• Rockfall – occurs when a block of rock breaks off and falls freely or
bounces down a cliff.

• Cliffs may form naturally by the undercutting action of a river, wave

action, or glacial erosion.

• Highway or other construction projects may also oversteepen slopes.

• Bedrock commonly has joints or other planes of weakness such as foliation

or sedimentary bedding planes where blocks of rock will break off.

• In colder climates, rock is effectively broken apart by frost wedging.

• An apron of fallen rock fragments called talus, commonly accumulated at

the base of a cliff.
Examples of rockfall
(after Plummer et al.,
2005)
• Rockslide – rapid sliding of a mass of bedrock along an inclined surface of
weakness, such as a bedding plane, a major fracture in the rock, or a
foliation plane.

• Once sliding begins, a rock slab usually breaks into rubble.

• Can also be caused by undercutting at the base of the slope from erosion or
construction.

• Some travel only a few metres before halting at the base of a slope.

• In high relief areas however, a rockslide may travel hundreds of metres

before reaching a valley floor.
• Rockslide (contd..)

• If movement becomes very rapid, the rockslide may break up and become a
rock avalanche – very rapidly moving, turbulent mass of broken-up
bedrock.

• Ultimately, a rockslide or rock avalanche comes to rest as the terrain

becomes less steep.

• Can be very disastrous e.g. 1925 Gros Ventre slide in Wyomig, USA, 1963
Vaiont slide in Italy,
The Vaiont slide
in Italy (from
Plummer et al.,
2005). 270 cubic
metres of rock
filled the reservoir
as a result of a
massive rockslide.
(A) Photo of the
Gross Ventre
landslide; (B) & (C)
Diagram illustrating
the slide (after
Plummer et al.,
2005)

A
Hillside vulnerable to
landslide due to
construction activities
(after Plummer et al.,
2005)
Section of a hill showing a relatively safe road cut on the
left and a hazardous road cut on the right (after Plummer et
al., 2005)