In researching the California Department
of Conservation website, I found a page on Landslide. When I lived in California this was something
that had affected me, so I found it interesting. I found that there are several different categories
of landslides that include: earth flows, debris flows, debris slides, rockslides,
and rock falls. The different categories
depend on if it is only soil or rock or a combination of the two. An earth flow is a specific type of flow
where the majority of the soil material is fine-grain silt and clay. A debris flow is where the soil is a majority
coarse-grained material from sand to boulder size particles. A debris slide is similar to a debris flow
but is generally on a steeper slope and carry more power. A rockslide is a landslide that involves
bedrock that move and remain largely intact.
A rock fall is where a massive rock detaches from a steep slope and descends
mainly through the air.
Landslide can be a big problem in many
areas of California because it causes damage to houses, roads, and other
structures. Landslides become a big
problem when the rain season comes. Most
of the year California is very dry and does not receive much rain fall. This makes many areas have dry and brittle vegetation. With the combination of Santa Ann winds in
the south or Diablo winds in the north that bring hot dry air from the desert
into the coastal regains. This creates
very good conditions for wildfires which burn all of the vegetation from the mountain
sides. Once most of the vegetation is
burnt away there is nothing to hold the soil on the mountain sides. The next time there is heavy rain it creates
landslides.
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| Map of Resent Landslides |
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