Landslide Risks on the Rise as Climate Change Worsens

Question 1 

The angle of a slope affects its stability by determining whether a slope will stand or fail. A maximum angle of between 20 and 40 allows a slope to be stable since it establishes a balance between gravity in line with the resisting force (Haeberli, Schaub, & Huggel, 2017). Steep angles beyond the maximum angle led a slope to fail. 

Question 2 

Events such as an increase in a slope’s steepness are known to cause mass wasting. Increased water also results in mass wasting since it washes away the particles that ensure the intactness of the mountainside. Moreover, decreased vegetation serves as a factor since soil particles become unstable due to the absence of support from the root system (Rounce, McKinney, Lala, Byers, & Watson, 2016). Earthquakes result in mass wasting since the violent shaking breaks of hill or mountain sections leading them to slide down. 

Question 3 

A creep entails a slow movement of mass that takes place for years without being noticed, although it becomes evident with the leaning of poles and fences and breakage of retaining walls. Slums emerge where masses or blocks of intact rock or soil move downslope. Translational slides emerge when soil comprising of shale or clay slide parallel to a slope. Rotational slides occur when landslides emerge in curved ways, with the slide’s upper surface sliding backward toward the initial slope while the lower surface shifts away. Falls are instant movements of rocks, which detach from cliffs or steep slopes, with the movement being bouncing, freefalling, or rolling (Klimeš et al., 2016). Debris flows or mudflows entail moving of debris down slope, comprising a mixture of water and debris. 

Question 4 

The process of delaying mass wasting requires designing properly during construction projects while at the same time including retaining walls and barriers, drainage pipes, instant re-vegetation, and slope terracing to minimize steepness. Using rock bolts, screens, and cables, as well as reducing slope steepness, reduces incidences of rock falls (Haeberli, Schaub, & Huggel, 2017). However, preventing mass wasting permanently is improbable since the process is natural and ongoing. 

Question 5 

Scientists have utilized glacial deposit evidence to time in line with determining the extent of past glaciations on earth. The known glaciation periods during history comprise of the Huronian, Cryogenian, Andean-Saharan, Karoo, and (Rounce, McKinney, Lala, Byers, & Watson, 2016) Quaternary that occurred around 2.4 billion, 850 million, 460 mya, 360 mya, and 2.6 mya to present respectively. 

Question 6 

A major difference is that continental glaciation covers masses on continents, whereas Alpine glaciers occur in valleys of mountains beyond slow lines (Haeberli, Schaub, & Huggel, 2017). Continental glaciation exists at the poles of the earth despite elevation, whereas Alpine glaciation occurs in the mountains. 

Question 7 

In the ablation zone, more ice melts that the snow that accumulates. The line of equilibrium is the boundary between the accumulation zones (above) and ablation (below) (Klimeš et al., 2016). Over the glacier’s equilibrium line, not the entire snow of winter melts during summer, leading snow to accumulate gradually, leading to the formation of ice. 

Question 8 

The melting of ice due to pressure leads basal sliding glaciers to slide, leading to a water film at the ice-bed border. It leads to decoupling, which leads ice to flow fact. The roughness of the glacier bed due to obstacles and bumps boosts the melting and flow of ice (Haeberli, Schaub, & Huggel, 2017). Gravity forces move the glacier with elevation differences leading glaciers to shift from high to low. 

Question 9 

U-shaped valleys form when glacial erosion occurs, eroding the surrounding rocks to develop a ‘U’ shaped valley that has a seep side and flat bottom. Arêtes are narrow rock ridges that distance two valleys while they establish with the erosion of matching U-shaped varies. The formation of cols occurs due to the erosion of a two-circle basis situated on the opposite sides of a mountain. Horns are pyramidal peaks that form after the erosion of the summit by cirque basins. Hanging valleys form with the erosion effects that glaciation brings, leading to two distinct glacier flows, which interact (Rounce, McKinney, Lala, Byers, & Watson, 2016). Truncated spurs emerge when rivers erode the upper course of a landscape, winding and bending to avoid regions with hard rock. Drumlins form when sheets of glacial ice move across rick debris in a streamlined manner. Roches moutonees are rock formations that passing glaciers form over underlying bedrocks, leading to asymmetric forms of erosion. Glacial grooves emerge when coarse gravel and boulders are trapped under glacial ice while abrading the land with the glacier pulling and pushing them along (Klimeš et al., 2016). Striae are formed when glaciers flow overland while incorporating sediment and rock pieces into ice. 

Question 10 

Tarns are mountain lakes that form from a valley that a glacier excavates. Finger Lakes are narrow water bodies that flow linearly while occupying valleys, which glaciers over-deepen. Moraine lakes occur when terminal moraines hinder some of the melted water from departing a valley (Haeberli, Schaub, & Huggel, 2017). Kettle lakes emerge when stagnant ice blocks detach from glaciers while the sediment that melts slowly fills the depression left to form a lake. 

References 

Haeberli, W., Schaub, Y., & Huggel, C. (2017). Increasing risks related to landslides from degrading permafrost into new lakes in de-glaciating mountain ranges. Geomorphology, 293 , 405-417. 

Klimeš, J., Novotný, J., Novotná, I., de Urries, B. J., Vilímek, V., Emmer, A., & Frey, H. (2016). Landslides in moraines as triggers of glacial lake outburst floods: an example from Palcacocha Lake (Cordillera Blanca, Peru). Landslides, 13 (6), 1461-1477. 

Rounce, D. R., McKinney, D. C., Lala, J. M., Byers, A. C., & Watson, C. S. (2016). A new remote hazard and risk assessment framework for glacial lakes in the Nepal Himalaya. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 20 , 3455-3475.