A landslide is always a disaster

Philosophers like to talk about the fact that nature takes revenge on people for careless attitude. Sometimes such phenomena as a landslide, a mudflow, a collapse, are declared acts of counteraction to the planet of unreasonable activity of mankind. Is it really? Why do landslides happen? Let's understand objectively.

Definition

According to the views of Academician K. Zarub, a landslide is a process of abrupt displacement of rocks forming monolith layers relative to each other. That is, under certain conditions the coupling of various rocks is violated. The particles of each individual layer are more interrelated than with elements of another component of the monolith part. Visually, it can be imagined as a pyramid of ordinary toy cubes. If they are placed strictly vertically on each other, they stand, without stirring. When you begin to "change the experimental conditions", for example, tilting the structure, it can collapse. In this case, each individual cube symbolizes the earth's layer. Naturally, in nature everything is much more complicated, but to understand that a landslide is a phenomenon of rock displacement, this model allows.

Causes of landslides

In general, this phenomenon can be provoked both by natural and artificial factors. Among the first most often called the action of groundwater. I must say that a landslide is not a universal phenomenon. It can not occur in any territory. An indispensable condition is the presence of certain rocks in the earth formations.

They are called weakly cemented, loose. They penetrate groundwater, provoking their movement in the direction of the current. In some cases, the layer may begin to "crawl" relatively denser layers. This phenomenon can also be caused by an earthquake. And even a little excitement that is not noticeable to a person, sometimes becomes a destabilizing factor of the inner world of the earth. Among the causes of artificial, man-made origin most often indicate the rash economic activities of man. Thus, the erection of buildings in places where loose or loose rocks are located creates a dangerous pressure on them. If the base under these unstable layers is inclined, then in due course their natural displacement under the influence of external influence occurs. It is also dangerous to build roads on inhomogeneous slopes. It turns out that a landslide is not always a natural phenomenon. Unfortunately, it can be caused by simple folly and mismanagement of a person.

Classification

There are landslides of four types:

• Block, when whole layers are displaced;
• Slicks - rapid slipping of sediments relative to a denser soil;
• Small blocks - shedding of slopes in small pieces;
• Settling.

All kinds of landslides are still subdivided by the speed of passage. Some will happen suddenly, abruptly, with destructive (and not very) consequences. But there are also those who pass slowly, occupying huge territories, practically not showing themselves visually. In addition, landslides are divided and in time of manifestation. So, now scientists can study the consequences of those disasters that occurred many millennia ago.

Dangerous consequences of landslides

Scientists involved in the study of this phenomenon, noted that it leads to various losses. So, according to their calculations, in the last century, from the disasters caused by landslides, not less than one hundred thousand people suffered. But that is not all. Often this phenomenon leads to tangible loss of communications and structures. Virtually all buildings are affected: water pipelines and gas pipelines, roads and buildings for various purposes. People have long since begun to protect their farms from this sometimes terrible phenomenon. For this purpose, the slopes of mountains and ravines are fortified, trees are planted, which can strengthen the soil layers with their root system. Scientists are developing more ambitious and modern methods to prevent dangerous consequences of landslides.