Slope Processes
Much of the terrestrial surface of our planet is sloping. Rivers and glaciers occupy a number of this terrain, but the overwhelming majority of sloping grounds are hillslopes, or simply “slopes”.
Slope processes include weathering, erosion, transport and deposition of the material, generating and transporting soil or regolith.
There are different types of mass movements:
Creep and solifluction
Debris flows and lahars
Slope failures
Slides
Falls
Mass movement (a.k.a mass wasting) is a geomorphic process; the downslope movement of rock and weathered debris.
When we think about slope processes we have to know some basic knowledge about it.
Vertical slopes are more common in an arid environment with little vegetation.
Local conditions largely determine what sort of slope is present
Materials on slopes are constantly moving
Slope processes help explain why valleys are typically much larger than the streams they contain.
Types of slope processes have important variables that are used to classify some different types of slope processes include: type of movement, slope material, the amount of water present at the time, and the rate of movement.
However slope stability is really important when researching a slope. The stability of a slope is shown as the relationship between driving forces and resisting forces, and the most common drive is that of the weight of material.
Erosion Process on Slopes
Running water can have a defining part in how erosion works around slopes. For example; rainfall intensity, infiltration rate and overland flow are all connected, and shape the way of a slope. They all can have very big consequences, but human activity can further affect them. Water can also cause different types of erosions like; sheet erosion, gully erosion, and rills.
Furthermore, how human activity can cause mass movements is pretty simple. We have waste heaps, excavations and by building on slopes we can easily damage the ground enough to trigger landslides. Even in the media it’s often mentioned that deforestation and not using the land properly can lead to mudflows or debris flow.
Nonetheless there are still ways to reduce the probability of mass movements, but in my opinion we have to be much more careful, and research the area of a construction site before actually building there. Pinning, netting, drainage, and gabions are the most common ways to lessen the probability of mass movements, since they’re mostly safe and they don’t change much about nature.
All in all we as humans have to be careful and observational when planning out new cities or any other type of construction, since we only have one Earth and the more natural accidents we cause, the more destruction of life there is.
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