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Landslides
Landslides are the movement of large amounts of earth such as rock, soil, sand, mud or the combination of any of these.
The Earth’s land is dynamic and is always moving. It moves very slowly and is calculated to be moving about a few centimetres each year. This is one reason why we have landslides.
Some other factors in causing landslides are:
- Volcanoes
- Earthquakes
- Other vibrations in the Earth due to machinery, blasting, construction and mining.
- Erosion as a result of loss of vegetation, rivers, floods or the ocean’s waves.
- Avalanches that can be caused by significant changes to the amount of moisture that seeps into the land.
- Moisture levels can change in the earth from agriculture, the farming and irrigation of fields, or the melting of snow and ice.
All these elements are contributing factors in destabilising the earth.
When land is destabilised, particularly on sloping, mountainous or land with even a slight gradient – landslides can occur.