Reflection on Baconsfield: Mass Wasting

A wise man once said, "gravity: it's the law". This remains true in the case of mass wasting, a geological phenomenon where lighter soils are first to succomb to gravity, depositing themselves in rivers, streams, canyons, and other land and water forms where there is an evident difference in height.

Mass wasting comes in a variety of forms, dependent upon the material and the speed at which the gravitational pull takes its toll. Here are several examples of mass wasting:

Creeps- usually occur when there is a dramatic change in hot and cold temperatures, resulting in a downward motion for the vegetation

Falls- usually occur in rockfalls and occur when water causes a piece of rock to break off of a greater rock



Slumps- when a soil mass slides down a curved slope

Flows- when debris, mud, snow, or other soil matter is more viscous and moves downward in a fluid manner

here's an example of debris flow:

Landslide- after usually a period of rain, land, rock, and soil give way to move down a slope. Similarly, there can be many forms of landslide such as slump, debris slide, rock slide, rock fall, debris fall and avalanche.

and here's Stevie Nicks singing about it:



even though she's my best friend, she could benefit from a geology course.