GEOLOGY

- The science concerned with the study of Earth; includes studies of Earth’s materials (minerals and
rocks), surface and internal processes, and earth history.
 Lecture notes:
Geology as a discipline:
1. Relevance of time. Geology deals with the ancient 10,000 billion yrs ago, up to the recent.
2. issue of scale
3. Complexity of replicating natural system and phenomena in the laboratory.

Two general areas of study

1. Physical Geology. Physical geology has three primary concerns: Earth materials, which include
minerals and rocks; Earth’s surface processes, which include such diverse phenomena as running
water, glaciers, waves, and wind; and Earth’s internal processes, such as earthquake activity,
volcanism, and the magnetic field.
Physical Geology includes the following fields of study:
 mineralogy, the study of the chemical composition and structure of minerals;
 petrology, the study of the composition and origin of rocks;
 geomorphology, the study of the origin of landforms and their modification by
dynamic processes;
 geochemistry, the study of the chemical composition of earth materials and the
chemical changes that occur within the earth and on its surface;
 geophysics, the study of the behavior of rock materials in response to stresses and
according to the principles of physics;
 sedimentology, the science of the erosion and deposition of rock particles by wind,
water, or ice;
 structural geology, the study of the forces that deform the earth's rocks and the
description and mapping of deformed rock bodies;
 economic geology, the study of the exploration and recovery of natural resources,
such as ores and petroleum; and
 Engineering geology, the study of the interactions of the earth's crust with human-
made structures such as tunnels, mines, dams, bridges, and building foundations.
(Source: http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/sci/A0858358.html)

2. Historical Geology. Historical geology examines the history of the Earth and its life forms; the
latter are studied through fossils, which are the remains or traces of organisms preserved in rocks.
Physical Geology includes the following fields of study:
 paleontology, the systematic study of past life forms;
 stratigraphy, of layered rocks and their interrelationships;
 paleogeography, of the locations of ancient land masses and their boundaries; and
geologic mapping, the superimposing of geologic information upon existing
topographic maps.

Principles in Geology
1. Uniformitarianism
“..The present is the key to the past..”
Proponent: James Hutton – “Father of Geology”
- the theory of uniformitarianism suggested that the landscape developed over long periods
of time through a variety of slow geologic and geomorphic processes.
- Sir Charles Lyell endorsed Uniformitarianism in his work, Principles of Geology (1830)
2. Catastrophism
Proponent: George Baron Cuvier
 Lecture notes:
1. Catasrophe – a violent event; a change in the Earth’s landscape due to an event.
2. There are sudden changes in the earth’s landscape. That opens a new era for the earth.
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The Planet Earth

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1. A hypothesis on the formation of the Earth: Nebular hypothesis and the Big bang Theory.
2. Size and shape of the Earth
3. Earth’s largest scale features
4. Earth’s internal structure and features.
5. Isostasy: Pratt’s and Airy’s theories of isostasy.

The Formation of the Universe:

1. The Big Bang theory
 - The Big Bang Theory is the dominant scientific theory about the origin of the universe. Proposed by
Georges Lemaître in 1927, According to the big bang, the universe was created sometime between 10 billion and
20 billion years ago from a cosmic explosion that hurled matter and in all directions. Years later, Edwin Hubble
found experimental evidence to help justify Lemaître's theory. He found that distant galaxies in every direction
are going away from us with speeds proportional to their distance. The theory also predicts the existence of
cosmic background radiation (the glow left over from the explosion itself).
Source: http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/universe/b_bang.html

 Lecture notes:
- The Big bang theory- the universe originated from a cosmic explosion.
a. Proposed by: Georges Lemaitre
b. Edwin Hubble – “galaxies are moving away from each other.”; justified Lemaitre’s
theory.
c. The solar system are the leftovers from the bigbang theory.

2. Nebular Hypothesis
 Lecture notes:
- Nebular Hypothesis – the solar system originated from a single rotating cloud of gas and
dust, starting 4.6 BYA which contracted due to gravity.
a. Proposed by: Immanuel Kant and Pierre Curie
- The sun – made up of hydrogen and a middle aged star.
- The Planets – their composition depend on its distance from the sun. Planets nearest to
the sun contained high-temperature minerals (e.g. iron) while those that are far away
contained lower temperature materials (e.g. methane and ammonia)

MINERALS

Mineral is a naturally occurring, inorganic (or nonbiological) crystalline solid, chemical compound.
*3500 minerals have been described and named.
Mineral names:
o Color: Azurite (azure), Olivine (olive green), rhodonite (greek rhodos = red), albite
(latin albus = white).
o Places: labradorite 9Labrador), andesine (the Andes), muscovite (Muscovy, an old
name for Moscow), turquoise (turkey)
o Uses: fluorite (latin fluere = to flow; because it makes ores melt more easily, graphite
( Greek graphos = writing; for its use in pencils).
o Chemical composition: Cuprite (copper), siderite (Greek sideros = iron), uraninite
(uranium), Calcite (calcite).
o Properties: Magnetite (from its magnetism), barite (greek barys = heavy)
o People: biotite ( Jean Biot, a French physcist), sillimanite (Benjamin Silliman, An
American chemist)

Physical Properties of Minerals

 Color – the most obvious property of any material, but it is of limited use for identification.
Note: Some minerals have distinctive colors others don not. For example, Copper
minerals are commonly bright green or blue and the colors of metals tend to be fairly
constant but quartz, which is white when pure, can be tinted any color by small
amounts of impurities.
- the apparent color of a mineral is only a surface coating, and the true color becomes
apparent only when the mineral is broken.
- The most important coloring material in minerals and rocks is IRON.
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 Ferric iron (iron that has lost three electrons and has a +3 electric charge)
produces earth tones: red, brown or yellow.
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 Ferrous iron (iron that has lost two electrons and has a +2 electric charge) is
responsible for the dark green to black colors of many silicate minerals and
rocks.
- Color variation of minerals can be even out if it is in fine powder form. Using a streak plate
the mineral leaves a trail of powder that shows its color.
 Luster – the way a mineral reflects light.
 - Two types: Metallic and nonmetallic. Distinction between metallic and nonmetallic luster is
a fairly reliable property because it is directly related to the type of atomic bonding in the
mineral.
 Minerals with metallic luster are almost always opaque, meaning they are not
clear enough to transmit light.
 Nonmetallic minerals may be opaque, transparent, and translucent, meaning that
some light passes through them.
 Density – a reliable property of minerals because it is directly related to the weight of the atoms in a
mineral and how closely they are arranged.
- Density or mass per unit of volume is usually expressed in grams per cubic centimeter or
in terms of specific gravity which expresses the density of a material compared to ab
equal volume of water.
- Metallic minerals generally have higher specific gravities than nonmetallic.
 Hardness – or the resistance of the mineral to scratching. It is a direct measure of how tightly the
atoms in a mineral are bonded together.
- The German Mineralogist Friedrich Mohs devised a hardness by arranging common
minerals in order or relative hardness.
Mohs’ Hardness table
HARDNESS MINERAL ASSOCIATION/USES
1 Talc Talcum powder
2 Gypsum Plaster of paris, Gypsum is formed when sea water evaporates from the Earth’s
surface.
3 Calcite Limestone and most shells contain calcite.
4 Fluorite Fluorine prevents tooth decay.
5 Apatite
6 Orthoclase Orthoclase is feldspar, and in German feld means field.
7 Quartz
8 Topaz
9 Corondum Sapphire and ruby are varieties of corundum. Twice as hard as topaz
10 Diamond Used in jewelry and cutting tools. Four times as hard as corundum.
 Fracture – Many minerals break or fracture in distinctive ways. Fracture refers to the way a mineral
break on an uneven surface. Glass, Quartz and many other hard materials break in a smooth, curving
manner yielding Conchoidal fracture. Minerals that consist of fine, parallel crystals sometimes exhibit
fibrous fracture.

QUARTZ MINERAL DOES NOT

EXHIBIT CLEAVAGE, IT
BREAKS OR FRACTURE
IN AN IRREGULAR
MANNER.

 Cleavage – The tendency for a mineral to break along smooth planes. Cleavage occur along planes of
weakness between atoms and is one of the most consistent and distinctive property of minerals.

MINERAL TYPE OF CLEAVAGE

Halite Cleavage in three directions
at right angles (90o). Cubic
cleavage
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Calcite Cleavage in three directions

not at right angles (120o
and 60o). Rhombohedral
cleavage
 Gypsum Cleavage in one direction.

Muscovite Cleavage in one direction.

Feldspar Cleavage in two directions

at right angles.

 Crystal shapes – crystals are solids which atoms are arranged in regular dimensional frameworks.
Common crystal of some minerals; Cubic crystals of pyrite and 12-sided garnet crystals.

Two Classifications of Minerals

1, Nonsilicate Minerals
- minerals that does not contain silicon.
a. carbonates (ex. Calciten Dolomite)
b. Sulfates ( gypsum, barite)
c. sulfides (pyrite, galena, cinnabar)
d. oxide
e. hydroxides
f. halides
g. phosphates
h. native elements.

2. Silicate Minerals
– the largest group. Compounds containing silicon and oxygem.
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building block – silicon tetrahedron. ( SiO4)4-

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-
1. very unstable
2. needs to link/ bond with another tetrahedron. (polymerization- the
process of bonding between two silicon tetr5ahedron.
- Nesosilicates- structure possessing isolated silicate tetrahedral.
- Sorosilicate – double structure silicate tetrhedra,
- Inosilicate – parallel single chains of silicate tetrahedra.
- Cyclosilicate – isolated rings of silicon tetrahedral.
- Phillosilicate –
 - Tectosilicate – a 3-dimensional framework of silicon tetrahedral.
- Two subgroups of Silicates: Ferromagnesian silicates, consists of minerals containing iron and magnesium,
and nonferromagnesian.

COMMON ROCK FORMING MINERALS:

Feldspar Amphibole
Quartz Mica
Olivine Clay
Pyroxene calcite

Economic Importance
1. Non renewable resource- processes that create the resources are slow.
2. Ores – useful metallic ( and some non-metallic) minerals that can be extracted and which contain
useful sources,

ROCKS
- made up of minerals
- three types: Igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary
- A naturally occurring aggregate of one or more minerals, may or may not contain
meraloids, natural glass and organic matter.
Rocks and the minerals composing them are the fundamental materials of the earth.

IGNEOUS ROCKS
- Ignis = fire
- Formed from solidification of magma (intrusive) or lava which flows out from depths
(extrusive)
Two categories of Igneous rocks
Volcanic rocks Platonic rocks
extrusive intrusive
Solidifies from lava. Hardens beneath the surface.
Fine grained Contains large minerals
(lava tends to cool quickly) Cools slowly, and crystals have
Contains mostly of cavities time to grow to large size.
known as Vesicles Coarse grained.
(Vesicles are from gas bubbles that
expands as the rock cools down)

The faster the molten rock material cools the smaller the mineral crystals in the resulting rock.

Magma
- Molten materials which may contain suspended crystals and dissolved volatiles ( gases e.g
water vapor, CO2, SO2)
- Composed of mobile ions of the most abundant elements.
- Magma generation:
1. role of heat
2. role of pressure.
3. role of volatiles
- Gases in magmas: The high pressure keeps the gas in solution in the liquid, when the
pressure decreases the gas comes out of solution and forms a separate gas phase that is seen as
bubbles.
- Rhyolitic Magmas usually have higher gas contents than Basaltic magmas.
- Viscosity of magmas – Resistance to flow – depends on the composition of the magma ang
temperature.
- Sources of Heat for melting in the crust:
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1. original heat of the Earth at the time of formation.

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2. some elements
3. heat transfer by conduction from a nearby body of magma
4. hot mantle plumes may upwell into the crust.
5. frictional heat caused by rocks grinding past each other.

ORIGIN/ PLACE OF
FORMATION OF MAGMA
Mid Oceanic ridges

Underwater mountain system that consists of various mountain ranges (chains)

Oceanic Spreading Center – Seafloor spreading
The uplifted seafloor results from convection currents which rise in the mantle as
magma at a linear weakness in the oceanic crust and emerge as lava, creating
new crust upon cooling
Demarcates the boundary between two tectonic plates and consequently is
termed a divergent Plate Boundary.
Geologically active, the crystallized magma forms new crust of basalt – MORB
(Mid Oceanic Ridge Basalt) – and gabbro.
Subduction Zones
Hotspots

Magma is classified according to:

- silica content – amount of SiO2
- viscosity – resistance to flow
- Temperature – temperature of melt & formation.
- High SiO2, high viscosity
- High temp, Low SiO2, Low viscosity.

Description Summary for the different types of Magma

TYPE OF IG. RX FORMED CHEMICAL TEMPERATURE VISCOSITY GAS
MAGMA Intrusive Extrusive COMPOSITION CONTENTS
Basaltic Gabbro Basalt 45 – 55 % 1000 – 1200 Low Low
SiO2; deg C
↑ Fe, Mg, Ca;
↓ K, Na
Andesitic Doirite Andesite 55 - 65 % 800 – 1000 Intermediate intermediate
SiO2; deg C
Intermediate
Fe, Mg, Ca;,
K, Na
Rhyolitic Granite Rhyolite 65 - 75 % 650 – 800 deg High High
SiO2; C
↓ Fe, Mg, Ca;
↑ K, Na

Contents: Basaltic (Mafic), Andesitic (intermediate), rhyolitic (felsic)

- basaltic magma accounts for about 80% of all magma erupted by the volcano.
- Rhyolitic and andesitic magama accounts for 10% each.
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*Magma is made up of Garnet Peridotite – a rock made up of olivine pyroxene and Garnet.
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Ways to Generate Magma Illustrations

Magma Generated
Decompression Basaltic magma
Melting

If the raised geothermal gradient –due to Convection – becomes

higher than the initial melting temperature at any pressure, then a
partial melt will form. Liquid from this partial melt can be separated
from the remaining crystals because in general liquids have a lower
density than solid. Upwelling appears to occur beneath oceanic
ridges at hot spots and beneath continental rift valleys – magma
generated in these areas/environments is caused by decompression
melting.

Transfer of Heat Rhyolitic Magma

When magmas that were generated by some other

mechanism intrude into cold crust, they bring with them
heat. Upong Solidification, they lose this heat and
transfer it to the surrounding crust. Repeated intrusions
can transfer enough heat to increase the local geothermal
gradient and cause melting of the surrounding rock to
generate new magmas.
Flux Melting

Addition of H2O or CO2 deep within the Earth, could

cause partial melting
One place where water could be induced: Subduction
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Zone
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Two Kinds OF Igneous Rocks

1. Extrusive (volcanic) (fine grained)
- Molten rock, solidified at the surface.
Example: Basalt, andesite, rhyolite
2. Intrusive (plutonic) (coarse grained)
 - Igneous rock formed at depth.
Example: Gabbro, diorite, granite
INTRUSIVE IGNEOUS FORMATIONS

1. Laccolith Blister shape intrusion

Dome Mountain – formed from hot material rising from the earth’s mantke
into the crust that pushes overlying sedimentary rock layers upward to
form a dome shape
‘mushroom’
2. Small Dike
3. Batholith Gratnite domes
Complex intrusive bodies compsed of Plutonic Ig. Rx.
4. Dike a subvertical sheet-like intrusion of magma or sediment
5. Sill A tabular sheet intrusion that has intruded between older layers of
sedimentary rock, beds of volcanic lava or tuff or vene along the direction
of foliation in metamorphic rock.
6. Volcanic Neck
7. Lopolith A large intrusion which is lenticular in shape with a depressed central
region
Typically consist of large layered intrusions that range in age from archean
to Eocene
‘wine glass’
8. Stock Smilar to a batholith and typically represents the subsurface passage that
fed molten materials to a volcano or field of volcanoes over time.

Texture:
Course – close to the magma chamber
Fine – near or at the surface.
- rocks formed under great depth. Some are exposed through an uplift (earthquake) and
erosion.
-
MAFIC INTERMEDIATE FELSIC
Coarse Gabbro Diorite Granodiorite Granite
Fine Basalt Andesite Dacite Rhyolite
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 CLASSIFICATION OF IGNEOUS ROCKS
I. Based on Texture/ Aphanitic very fine grained. (< 2mm in
Crystal Size diameter) as a result of rapid
cooling at the surface. Minerals are
too small to be seen by the naked
eye.
Phaneritic coarse grained (>5mm) minerals
sizes due to magma cooling at
depth.
- brighter or shinier
Porphyritic - consists of atleast two minerals
having a conspicuous (large)
difference in size.
- Pheno crysts – larger grains
- matrix/ groundmass – finer grains
- undergone two stages of cooling
(slow – rapid)
Poyhyry >50%

II. Based on Shape of Euhedral Well defined crystal faces

Crystal Faces Subhedral Intermediate
Anhedral No well-formed crystal faces
Crystal Faces suggests the rate of
cooling that undergone, the slower
the rate of cooling the well-defined
the crystal faces were.

III. Based on Mineral

Composition

presence or absence of quartz,

composition of feldspars.

Other Ig. Rx texture:

1. Vesicular – contains tiny holes called vesicles which formed due to gas bubble in the lava or magma.
2. Glassy – molten rock quenched quickly as it was ejected into the atmosphere; non crystalline ( rocks
contains no mineral grain.)
3. pegmatitic – interlocking crystals greater than 1cm.
4. pyroclastic – formed when volcanic materials are extruded violently. (rock fragments rather than
crystals. )
Volcanic ejecta/ pyroclasts/ tephra – discharged particles during explosive eruptions.
Ash - <2mm in diameter.
Block or bomb - >64mm, block is uxtruded in a slid state while bomb is partially or wholly
molten.
Lapilli – 2.64 mm in Diameter
Deccan trap – materials that were not ejected out from a volcanic activity.

Magma source - partial metling.

Magma separates : felsic
Remaining rocks: more mafic rocks
Composition of magma: Variation:
Assimilation and magmatic differentiation (segregation)
*MAgmatic Differentiation - the process whereby one parent magma composition can produce a number of
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igneous rock composition through mineral crystallization.

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*Fractional Crystallization – the process of crystallizing and removal of crystal from the magma.

Formation of magma
Magma mixing - if 3 or more magma with different chemical composition came in contact with one another
beneath the earth’s surface then it is possible that they could mix with each other to produce compositions
intermediate between the end members.

Bowen’s Reaction series

 - Proposed by N.L Bowen
- Minerals in most igneous rocks tend to form in a specific sequence.
- The earliest formed minerals are silica poor
- Rocks at the felsic end of the series melt a lower temperature than those from the mafic
end.
- only one kind of magma (parent magma)—Basaltic magma.

Resources from Igneous rocks:

Metallic resources – produced by igneous processes.
- hydrothermal solution contain metal ions that eventually precipitate out.
- Found in veins; disseminated deposits, gold silver, platinum, etc.

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Volcanism

1. Eruption styles
2. Volcanic land forms
3. Volcanic hazards
4. Geothermal Energy

What is a volcano?
The word volcano came from the latin word “vulcan” (the roman god of Fire)
- Mountainous materials from successive eruptions.
- Why do volcanoes erupt? Due to decompression

Shield Volcano - less explosive; slopes are gentle (15 or less);

basaltic in nature; made mostly of lava flow. Shape
resembles a roman shield lying on the ground.
- The lava can flow long distances down even
gentle slopes and builds broad domes.
- form on oceanic crust at subduction zones, mid-
ocean ridges or hot spots.
- the largest of all volcanoes in diameter, height
and volume.
Cinder Cone - Relatively small (<300 m high); steep slope (30-
40); made up of pyroclastic materials (tephra).
Composite Volcano (Strato Volcano) - layered structure.
- More viscous lavas, much explosive (pyroclastic)
debris; large, emitted from a central vent
Caldera Volcano -very large composite volcano collapsed after an
explosive perios; frequently associated with plug
domes.
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Distribution of Volcanoes
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- Pacific ring of fire

- Hot spots
- Spreading centers.

How big are volcanic eruptions?

-Volcanic Explosivity Index is based on a number of things that can be observed during an explosion or
eruption.
 Types of Volcanic Eruptions

Strombolian short lived exlosive outburst of pasty lava ejected a few 10’s or 100’s of meters into
the air.
No sustained eruption in column.
Episodic explosion with blooming blast.

Hawaian calmest eruption type.

Vulcanian canon like explosion that are short lived. More explosive than strombolian

Plinian generate sutained eruptive columns with some reaching heights of 245 km. these
eruptive column produce widespread dispersals of tephra which cover large areas
with an even thickness of pumice and ash.

Surtseyan generated by the interaction of magma with either ground water or surface water.
Much more explosive as the water is heated.

Lava

Types of lava
Pahoehoe – smooth surface
Aa – glassy and rough (Sharp lava surfaces)
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Volcanic Hazards
1. Volcanic gases
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2. lava flow
3. pyroclastic flow – gas charged magma rises in a volcano. As the magma rises the pressure drops and
the gases starts to expand.
4. lahar
5. tephra – volcanic rock that are blasted into the air.

SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
1. Definition of weathering
2. Agents or Erosion
 3. Classification of sedimentary rocks
4. Sedimentary structures
5. Resources from sedimentary rocks.

Weathering
- the physical breakdown (disintegration) and chemical alteration (decomposition) of rocks and
minerals.
- Physical and chemical weathering alters rocks and minerals so that they are more nearly in
equilibrium with a new set of environment.
- The parent rock, or rock being weathered, breaks down into smaller pieces and some of its
constituent minerals dissolve or altered and removed from the weathering site, a phenomenon
known as Erosion.

Two Types of Weathering Processes Involved

Frost wedging
Mechanical Weathering
Forces that breaks rocks without
changing their chemical
composition
Salt Crystal Growth
Heating and cooling
Wetting and Drying
Activities of organisms
Unloading
Exfoliation
when water seeps into a crack and
freezes, it expands by about 9%
and exerts great force on the walls
of the crack, thereby widening and
extending it by frost wedging. As a
repeated freezing and thawing,
pieces of rock are eventually
detached from the parent material.
Frost action is most effective in
areas where temperatures
commonly fluctuate above and
below.
Salt crystals forming from solution
can cause rocks to disaggregate.
Growing crystal exerts enough
force to widen cracks and crevices
dislodge particles and pry loose
individual mineral grains. Salt
crystal growth produces forces that
expand opening in rocks. Takes
place in hot arid areas.
difference in temperature in a rocks
give rise to differential expansion
(heating) and contraction (cooling)
the disruption f soil results in the
swelling and contracting of soil
particles.
the removal of thick layers of
sediments overlying deeply buried
rocks by erosion or uplift.
rocks breaks off into leaves or
sheets along joints which parallel to
the ground surface. caused by
expansion of rock due to uplift and
erosion; removal of pressure of
deep burial

Dissolution
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Chemical Weathering Hydrolysis the process of mineral reacting with

water to form hydroxides (more
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Decomposition of rocks by chemical
alteration of the parent material
Progression to less stable minerals
to more stable minerals
soluble)
Acidification – weathering accelerated by the
presence of hydrogen ion in water
such as that provided by carbonic
and organic acids.
Hydration combination of a solid mineral or
element with water.
Oxidation and Reduction used in mineral weathering is both
 the chemical combination of oxygen
with a compound and the change in
the oxidation number of some
chemical elements.
Ion Exchange transfer of charged atoms (ions) of
Ca, Mg, Na and K between waters
rich in one of the ions and a
mineral rich in another.

Goldich Stability Series

Describes the order in which silicate minerals weather. Minerals which form at high temperatures and
pressures are least stable, and weather most quickly because they are farther from their "zone of stability", or
the conditions under which they formed. Minerals which form at lower temperatures and pressures are most
stable

Main products of Weathering.

1. soluble ions: Na, Ca, K, Mg
2. clay minerals: Laolinite, Montmorillouite
3. resistant minerals.
Alterations due to chemical weathering:
1. decomposition of unstable minerals
2. generation or retention of those minerals which are in equilibrium with the Earth’s surface.
Factors controlling Weathering
1. Source composition.
- specifically involves the mineralogy, texture and rock structure.
- Source rock lithology
- Fine grained rocks decompose chemically ready than coarse grained rocks.
2. climate
- temperature fluctuation determine importance of ice-wedging and insulations.
(thick soil shows there happened a lot weathering)
- Precipitation governs the extent of hydrolysis, hydration in solution.
3. topographic relief
- Influence the amount of rock exposed to the forces of weathering.
- Slope and steepness controls the rate at which weathering products are eroded to be
transported elsewhere.
Products of Weathering.
1. Soil – combination of rock, air, water, and organic materials.
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Soil types: varies color, texture, mineral content.

*alfisols, aridisols, entisols, histosols, incepticols, mollisols,…
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Erosion
- “eat away”
- Involves movement of rock or soil.
- Agents: Gravity, ice, organism, water, and wind.
Gravity as an agent of erosion
Mass wasting- land slide, slump (occurs on sediment deposits; soft curve surface), Slides
(planar movement)
 V- v-shaped valley is due to running water.
U – u-shaped valley is due to glacial erosion.
Preventing erosion:
- Construction of dikes
- Plant trees- they hold the soil together,

Transportation

Agent of sediment transport

1. ice
2. water
3. wind
Distance of sediment transport affects clast’s roundness and shericity and sorting.
Ways of physical transporting particles:
1. dissolved load – sediments in solution
2. suspended load – light and fine grained.
3. bed load – very coarse grained sediments (heavy) that is rolled and deposited at bottom faction.
*the competence and capacity of water and wind vary,

Sorting
The measure of variation of grain sizes.
Short distance—poorly sorted
Long distance—well sorted

Deposition
Transporting sediment requires energy. Grain sizes have relationship with energy of transportation.
Smaller grains—less energy
Bigger grains—more energy
Larger sediments are deposited in higher energy environment.
Example: gravel- needs fast moving water or rock slides.

Diagenesis
- physical, chemical and biological processes which collectively result in transformation of
sediments into sedimentary rocks
- modification of the texture and mineralogy of the rocks.
- Types:
i. Compaction – the process by which the volume of sediment is reduced as the grains
are squeezed together.
ii. Recrystallization
iii. Cementation
iv. Replacement
v. Bioturbation

Sedimentary Environment
Three major types
1. terrestrial/ continental
i. fluvial
ii. lacustrine
iii. Eolian
iv. glacial
2. transitional (mix environment)
3. marine
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- part of the earth’s surface, physically, chemically and biologically distinct from adjacent terrain.
- Defined by fauna and flora, geology, geomorphology, climate, weather and temperature.
Sedimentary facies
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- a mass of sedimentary rock which can be defined and distinguished from others by its
geometry, lithology, sedimentary structure, paleocurrent pattern and fossils.
Unconformity – break in the rock record.
Methods of environmental Diagnosis
*Geometry – a function of predepositional topography, geomorphology and its post depositional history.
*Litholigy – parameter easily observed and has environmental significance. Grain size, sorting, shape and texture
often reflected process of the environment.
*Fossils – one of the most important methods of identifying the depositional environment of sediment. To use
fossils in identifying the depositional environment of the host sediment two assumptions are made.

Terrestrial Sedimentary Environment

i. Alluvial Environment
- lot of coarse parts.
- usually sandstone and conglomerate
- poor sorting
- deposited by high energy floods or mudflow
- cone shaped
- typically found in tectonically active regions.
- agents: running water and ice.
- similar to delta fan in terms of shae, change in slope.
- sub-aerial.
Alluvium – young sediments (freshly eroded rock parts) that have come off the hill side and had been carried by
streams. The sediments accumulate at the base of the slope to form an alluvial fan.

ii. Fluvial environments

- include braided and meandering river and stream systems. River channels, bars, levees, and
floodplains are parts (or subenvironments) of the fluvial environment. Channel deposits consist of coarse,
rounded gravel, and sand. Bars are made of sand or gravel. Levees are made of fine sand or silt. Floodplains are
covered by silt and clay.

Stream – channelized body of running water

How is it formed?
 when mountains shed sediments off their flanks, streams carry it away as alluvium.
 a mountain stream carries a lot of alluvial sediments easily when its gradient is steep and energy is abundant.
Type of Channel
1. Meandering system
- consist of single channel
- low gradient and high sinuosity
- Sediments deposited at the inner sides of meander bends.
- Deposition of sediments takes place in the channel, on the levees and in the basins.
- Gravel and coarse sand are normally found on the channel floor (lag deposits)
- Finer sand settles along the inner bends of the river on so called point bars.

 Point bars – (brown region) areas of deposition


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Thalweg – (red line)deepest part of the stream

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Formation of Oxbow lake:

 2. Braided system
- has one channel of low sinuosity and high gradient with multiple thalwegs and bars
- high sediment load
- during times of maximum discharge , the channel is completely inundated
- In times of low discharge multiple thalwegs and bars reappear within the channel
- Occurs in areas with a highly irregular water regime of abundant sediment supply.
- Deposits contain alternating areas (lenses) of coarse gravel and sand.

**gradient – changes in slope of the pathway.

Stream design
a. Dentritic – uniform underlying bedrock.

iii. lacustrine Environment

- ancient lake deposit.
- lake – landlocked of standing, non-marine water,
- geometry – circular or elongate in plan view, lenticular in cross section
- typical sequence – coarsening upward from laminated shales,, marls, and limestones to cross
beds of sand stones.
How lake forms?
1. volcano eruptions  caldera  filled with water  lake
2. from ponds
3. from land destruction producing a space that would soon be filled with water.
4. man-made.
Sedimentary features:
- ripple marks – due to changing wind and current air.
- Fine grained sediments (sand, clay & silt)
Varves – alternating dark and light colored sediments.
- relatively thin bed and laminated.
- The dark and light colored beds are due to changes in the environment.
i. Reducing environment – rich in organic sediments- dark colored sediments.
ii. Denser sediments – light colored.
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iv. Eolian environment

- most effective where surface material is fine, dry and loose.
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- An environment devoid of vegetation is best. (Vegetation imposes a frictional force n the wind
to reduce its effectiveness) these conditions are met in deserts.
wind – a turbulent stream of air. Like water it has the ability to erode, transport and deposit.

Deserts
- concentrated in two regions: subtropics and middle latitudes
- areas where rainfall is less than 250mm (10in.)/ year or where evaporation exceeds
precipitation.
 - Rainfall in deserts may vary from 0.2cm/yr to about 40cm/yr.
- Wind velocities are high, due to lack of vegetation
Causes of Deserts
- high mountains cause available moisture to condense and precipitate in their higher parts,
reducing moisture available for low lands in the lee of mountains.
- Direct blocking of moisture may also occur.
Arid regions of the Earth: Sahara, Arabian, Gobi.
Wind Deposits
- deflation lag deposits – erosional; coarsest clasts (desert avement)
- Loess – unconsolidated, unstratified aggregation of small, angular mineral fragments, usually
buff in color. Generally believed to be wind deposited.
- Dunes – sand dunes forms when there is (1) a ready supply of sand. (2.) a fences, to trap
some of the sand.
i. sand dunes form when moving air slows down on the down wind side of the
obstacle.
ii. Types of sand dunes:
a. Barchan dunes – cresent shaped dunes they form in areas where
there is a hard ground surface, a moderate supply of sand and a
coastland wind air.
b. Transverse dunes – large field dunes, abundant supply of sand
and constant wind
c. Linear dunes – long straight dunes, limited supply of sand.
d. Parabolic dunes
e. Star dunes.
v. Glacial Environment
Glaciers
- constitute much of the Earth that makes up the cryosphere, the part of the Earth that remains
below the freezing point of water
- a permanent body of ice, consisting largely of recrystallized snow, that shows evidence of
downslope or outward movement due to the pull of gravity
Types of glaciers
1. Mountain Glaciers - Relatively small glaciers which occur at higher elevations in mountainous
regions.

o Smallest of these occupy hollows or bowl-shaped depressions on sides of mountains (cirque

glaciers).

o As cirque glaciers grow larger they may spread into valleys and flow down the valleys as
valley glaciers. Paths these valley glaciers take are controlled by existing topography.

o If a valley glacier extends down to sea level, it may carve a narrow valley into the coastline.
These are called fjord glaciers, and the narrow valleys they carve and later become filled
with seawater after the ice has melted are fjords.

o If a valley glacier extends down a valley and then covers a gentle slope beyond the mountain
range, it is called a piedmont glacier.

o If all of the valleys in a mountain range become filled with glaciers, and the glaciers cover then
entire mountain range, they are called ice caps.

2. Ice Sheets (Continental glaciers): are the largest types of glaciers on Earth. They cover
large areas of the land surface, including mountain areas. Modern ice sheets cover Greenland
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and Antarctica. These two ice sheets comprise about 95% of all glacial ice currently on Earth.
They have an estimated volume of about 24 million km3. If melted, they contain enough water
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to raise sea level about 66m (216 ft.).

3. Ice Shelves: Ice shelves are sheets of ice floating on water and attached to land. They
usually occupy coastal embayments, may extend hundreds of km from land and reach
thicknesses of 1000 m

Glaciers can also be classified by their internal temperature.

  Temperate glaciers - Ice in a temperate glacier is at a temperature near its melting point.

 Polar glaciers - Ice in a polar glacier always maintains a temperature well below its melting point.

The Formation of Glacial Ice

Glaciers can only form at latitudes or elevations above the snowline, which is the elevation above which snow
can form and remain present year round. The snowline, at present, lies at sea level in polar latitudes and rises
up to 6000 m in tropical areas. Glaciers form in these areas if the snow becomes compacted, forcing out the air
between the snowflakes. As compaction occurs, the weight of the overlying snow causes the snow to
recrystallize and increase its grain-size, until it increases its density and becomes a solid block of ice.

Changes in Glacier Size

Accumulation - occurs by addition of snowfall, compaction and recrystallization.
Ablation - the loss of mass resulting from melting, usually at lower altitude, where temperatures may rise above
freezing point in summer.

Movement of glaciers
1. Internal Flow - called creep, results from deformation of the ice crystal structure - the
crystals slide over each other like deck of cards. This type of movement is the only type that
occurs in polar glaciers, but it also occurs in temperate glaciers. The upper portions of glaciers
are brittle, when the lower portion deforms by internal flow, the upper portions may fracture to
form large cracks called crevasses. Crevasses occur where the lower portion of a glacier flows
over sudden change in topography
2. Basal Sliding - melt water at base of glacier reduces friction by lubricating the surface and
allowing the glacier to slide across its bed. Polar glaciers are usually frozen to their bed and are
thus too cold for this mechanism to occur.

Glaciation: is the modification of the land surface by the action of glaciers.

Glacial Erosion
 Small scale erosional features
o Glacial striations - long parallel scratches and grooves that are produced at the bottom of
temperate glaciers by rocks embedded in the ice scraping against the rock underlying the
glacier (see figure 16.17 in your text).
o Glacial polish - rock that has a smooth surface produced as a result of fined grained material
embedded in the glacier acting like sandpaper on the underlying surface.
 Landforms produced by mountain glaciers
o Cirques - bowl shaped depressions that occur at the heads of mountain glaciers that result
form a combination of frost wedging, glacial plucking, and abrasion. Sometimes small lakes,
called tarns occur in the bottom of cirque.
o Glacial Valleys - Valleys that once contained glacial ice become eroded into a "U" shape in
cross section. Stream erosion, on the other hand, produces valleys that are "V" shaped in cross
section .
o Arêtes - If two adjacent valleys are filled with glacial ice, the ridges between the valleys can
be carved into a sharp knife-edge ridge, called an arête.
o Horns - Where three or more cirques are carved out of a mountain, they can produce a sharp
peak called a horn
o Hanging Valleys - When a glacier occupying a smaller tributary valley meets the larger
valley, the tributary glacier usually does not have the ability to erode its base to the floor of
the main valley. Thus, when the glacial ice melts the floor of the tributary valley hangs above
the floor of the main valley and is called a hanging valley. Waterfalls generally occur where the
hanging valley meets the main valley.
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o Fjords - Fjords are narrow inlets along the seacoast that were once occupied by a valley
glacier, called a fjord glacier.
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 Landforms produced by Ice Caps and Ice Sheets

o Abrasional features - The same small-scale abrasional features such as striations and glacial
polish can occur beneath ice caps and ice sheets, particularly in temperate environments.
o Streamlined forms - The land surface beneath a moving continental ice sheet can be molded
into smooth elongated forms called drumlins
Glacial Deposits
Since glaciers are solid they can transport all sizes of sediment, from huge house-sized boulders to fine-grained
clay sized material. The glacier can carry this material on its surface or embedded within it. Thus, sediment
transportation in a glacier is very much different than that in a stream. Thus, sediments deposited directly from
melting of a glacial can range from very poorly sorted to better sorted, depending on how much water transport
takes place after the ice melts. All sediment deposited as a result of glacial erosion is called Glacial Drift
 Ice Laid Deposits
o Till - nonsorted glacial drift deposited directly from ice. Till consists of a random mixture of
different sized fragments of angular rocks in a matrix of fine grained, sand- to clay-sized
fragments that were produced by abrasion within the glacier. This fine-grained material is
often called rock flour because it is really ground up rock. A till that has undergone diagenesis
and has turned into a rock is called a tillite.
o Erratics - a glacially deposited rock or fragment that now rests on a surface made of different
rock. Erratics are often found many kilometers from their source, and by mapping the
distribution pattern of erratics geologists can often determine the flow directions of the ice that
carried them to their present locations.
o Moraines - are deposits of till that have a form different from the underlying bedrock.
Depending on where it formed in relation to the glacier moraines can be:
 Ground Moraines - these are deposited beneath the glacier and result in a
hummocky topography with lots of enclosed small basins
 Lateral Moraines are deposits of till that were deposited along the sides of
mountain glaciers.
 Medial Moraines - When two valley glaciers meet to form a larger glacier, the rock
debris along the sides of both glaciers merge to form a medial moraine (see figures
16.10 and 16.16 in your text). These black streaks in an active glacier, as well as the
deposits left behind after the ice melts are called medial moraines.
Glacial Marine drift - Glaciers that reach the oceans or even lakes, may calve off into large icebergs which
then float on the water surface until they melt. Upon melting, the rock debris that they contain becomes
immediately deposited on the sea floor or lakebed as an unsorted chaotic deposit. Sometimes single large rock
fragments fall out on the floor of the water body, and these are called dropstones.
 Stratified Drift - Glacial drift can be picked up and moved by meltwater streams which can then deposit
that material as stratified drift.
o Outwash Plains - Streams running off the end of a melting glacier are usually choked with
sediment and form braided streams, which deposit poorly sorted stratified sediment in an
outwash plain. These deposits are often referred to as outwash.
o Outwash Terraces - If the outwash streams cut down into their outwash deposits, the banks
from river terraces called outwash terraces.
o Kettle Lakes - If depressions form underneath a glacier and remain after the glacier is melted
then water filling these depressions become small lakes where fine-grained sediment is
deposited. The state of Minnesota is called the land of a thousand lakes, most of which are
kettle lakes.
o Kames and Kame Terraces. Streams and lakes forming on top of stagnant ice may deposit
stratified sediment on top of the glacier. When the glacier melts these deposits are set down
on the ground surface. The former lake deposits become kames, and the former stream
deposits become kame terraces
o Eskers - Eskers are long sinuous ridges of sediment deposited by streams than ran under or
within a glacier. The sediment deposited by these streams becomes an esker after the ice has
melted.

Transitional Sedimentary Environment

- Transitional environments are those environments at or near the transition between the land and the
sea.
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i. Delta
- similar to alluvial fan.
- fan-shaped deposits formed where a river flows into a standing body of water, such as a lake or sea.
Coarser sediment (sand) tends to be deposited near the mouth of the river; finer sediment is carried seaward
and deposited in deeper water. Some well known deltas include the Mississippi River delta and the Nile River
delta.
Factors affecting Delta formation and facies: climate and tectonic

Parts of delta
1. delta plain – composed of meandering flood plains, swamps and beach complex.
2. delta front – steeper part.
3. prodelta

Types of Delta
1. River dominated – large sediment volume, lobate shape - moderate sediment supply.
2. tide dominated – linear feature parallel to tidal flow and perpendiculas to shore.
3. Wave dominated – smoothly actuate , tidal action reworks sediment. Much sandier than the other types of
delta.

ii. Beach
shoreline deposits exposed to wave energy and dominated by sand with a marine fauna. Barrier islands
are separated from the mainland by a lagoon. They are commonly associated with tidal flat deposits.
- shore of a body of water formed and washed by waves and tides.
- Covered by sandy or pebbly materials.
- Well sorted sand and pebble.
- Waves
- Longshore drift – the movement of sediments along a beach by swash and back swash of
waves that approach the shore obliquely
- Longshore drift – a current that moves parallel to a shore; formed from the momentum of
breaking waves that approach sand.
- Spit – a long ridge body of sand deposited by longshore current and drift, attached to land at
upstream end.
- Tombolo – a sand or gravel bar that connects an island to the main island.

iii. Lagoon
bodies of water on the landward side of barrier islands. They are protected from the pounding of the
ocean waves by the barrier islands, and contain finer sediment than the beaches (usually silt and mud). Lagoons
are also present behind reefs, or in the center of atolls.
- a low energy environment with fine sediment deposit.

Marine Sedimentary Environment

Marine environments are those environments in the seas or oceans.

1. Reefs are wave-resistant, mound-like structures made of the calcareous skeletons of organisms such as corals
and certain types of algae. Most modern reefs are in warm, clear, shallow, tropical seas, between the latitudes of
30oN and 30oS of the equator. Sunlight is required for reef growth because of the presence of symbiotic algae
called zooxanthellae which live in the tissues of corals. Atolls are ring-like reefs surrounding a central lagoon
(such as Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean).

2. The continental shelf is the flooded edge of the continent. The continental shelf is relatively flat (slope <
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0.1o), shallow (less than 200 m or 600 ft deep), and may be up to hundreds of miles wide. (The flooding of the
edges of the continents occurred when the glaciers melted at the end of the last Ice Age, about 10,000 years
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ago.) Continental shelves are exposed to waves, tides, and currents, and are covered by sand, silt, and mud.
Quartz and clay minerals are dominant.

3. The continental slope and continental rise are located seaward of the continental shelf. The continental
slope is the steep (5- 25o) "dropoff" at the edge of the continent. The continental slope passes seaward into the
continental rise, which has a more gradual slope. The continental rise is the site of deposition of thick
accumulations of sediment, much of which is in submarine fans, deposited by turbidity currents.
4. The abyssal plain is the deep ocean floor. It is basically flat, and is covered by very fine-grained sediment,
consisting primarily of clay and the shells of microscopic organisms (such as foraminifera, radiolarians, and
diatoms).

Sedimentary Rocks

The 3 end products:

1. quartz sandstone = all visible grains
2. shale = all clay sized grains
3. limestone = all dissolved minerals.

Classification of sedimentary rocks

1. siliciclastic (clastic) rocks
2. chemical rocks
3. biochemical rocks

Clastic rocks
Classified on texture (grain size) and composition. They have clastic (broken or fragmental) texture
consisting of the following:
 clast (larger pieces shuch as sand or gravel)
 matrix (mud or fine grained sediment surrounding the clasts)
 cement ( the glue that holds it all together such as calcite, iron oxide or silica)

Non clastic rocks

Chemical and biochemical
 Carbonates - calcite composed
 Form by both chemical and biochemical processes
 Chert – siliceous rock (composed of silica)
 Forms from the recrystallized skeletons of animals
 Rock salt – halite and gypsum
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 Dissolved in the sea water, making it salty.

 Peat and coal – fossils from plants’ remain; always found in sandstones and shales.
*sands from the streams are best to use in construction. Beach sand has calcium carbonates and stream has
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quartz which makes it more stable than the other.

Common Sedimentary Structures

1. stratification and bedding
a. Rhythmic Layering - Alternating parallel layers having different properties. Sometimes
caused by seasonal changes in deposition (Varves). i.e. lake deposits wherein coarse
sediment is deposited in summer months and fine sediment is deposited in the winter when
the surface of the lake is frozen.
 b. Cross Bedding - Sets of beds that are inclined relative to one another. The beds are inclined
in the direction that the wind or water was moving at the time of deposition. Boundaries
between sets of cross beds usually represent an erosional surface. Very common in beach
deposits, sand dunes, and river deposited sediment.

c. Graded Bedding - As current velocity decreases, first the larger or more dense particles are
deposited followed by smaller particles. This results in bedding showing a decrease in grain
size from the bottom of the bed to the top of the bed.

d. Non-sorted Sediment - Sediment showing a mixture of grain sizes results from such things
as rockfalls, debris flows, mudflows, and deposition from melting ice.
2. surface features
a. Ripple Marks - Characteristic of shallow water deposition. Caused by waves or winds.

b. Mudcracks - result from the drying out of wet sediment at the surface of the Earth. The
cracks form due to shrinkage of the sediment as it dries.

c. Raindrop Marks - pits (or tiny craters) created by falling rain. If present, this suggests that
the sediment was exposed to the surface of the Earth
d. Fossils - Remains of once living organisms. Probably the most important indicator of the
environment of deposition.
3. color
Iron oxides and sulfides along with buried organic matter give rocks a dark color. Indicates
deposition in a reducing environment.
Deposition in oxidizing environment produces red colored iron oxides

Resources from Sedimentary Rocks

1. sedimentary are used as:
a. sand and gravel (if pure sand- glass making)
b. pure clay - ceramics
2. fossil fuel
3. food additives
4. lacer deposits
5. building stone, filtering material
Ground Water
- Fresh water beneath the ground.
- Stored in spaces between grains of sediments and clastic rocks; cracks or openings in rocks.
- Vesicular basalt – can absorb and store water but cannot transmit it.
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- Source of groundwater – from the water cycle.

Water table
– the upper boundary of groundwater. (upper most limit boundary of the saturated zone)
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Aquifer
– water bearing rock; best aquifer is sandstone (porous, should be able to transmit water or
permeable)
- stores and transmit sufficient amount of water.
Confining Units:
a. Aquitard – stores water, but slowly transmit water. (shale)
b. Aquiclude – stores but does not transmit water (basalt)
c. Aquifuge – does not transmit nor store water.
 Unconfined aquifer- are the saturated portions of the upper soil profile located above a confining
layer. Their upper surface is in direct contact with the atmosphere through porous materials. This
upper surface is known as the "water table."
Perched aquifer- unconfined aquifer defined by a discontinuous confining unit
Confined Aquifer –separated from the atmosphere by a very slowly permeable or rock (aquitard)
called a confining layer. Water in these aquifers is under pressure and, in a well, will rise above the
top of the aquifer.
Vadose zone
- the zone of aeration. Contains more air than water.
Phreatic zone
- the saturated zone. Contains the groundwater.
Pororsity
- measures the amount of water that can held by rocks /sediments.
- Volume of voids/ total volume of material.
- Affected by grain size and grain packing.
Poorly sorted=less porous
Cubic vs. rhombohedral packing
- Well rounded coarsed grained sediments usually have higher porosity than fine grained
sediments because the grains do not fit together well.
Permeability
- ability to transmit fluid
- degree of interconnection of voids in material
Darcy’s Law - This states that where the Reynolds number is very low, the velocity of flow of a fluid through a
saturated porous medium is directly proportional to the hydraulic gradient. For example, the flow of groundwater
from one site to another through a rock is proportional to the difference in water pressure at the two sites:
V = hPl
Springs – form when the water table, confined aquifers or groundwater bearing fractures/cavities intersect
ground surface.
Artesian wells – wells tapping a confined aquifer.

Geologic work of Groundwater

1. Caverns – most caverns are created by acidic groundwater dissolving soluble rock at r just below the surface
in the zone of saturation.
Features found within caverns – they form in the zone of aeration.
Examples:
Dissolution of lime stone
Stalactite and stalagmite
2. Karst topography
- Sink holes – from the cracks on the ground
- found on areas underlying limestone.

Groundwater related problems

 lowers he water table near the well.
 Pollution and salt water intrusion
 Groundwater depletion
 Subsidence
 Sinkhole formation

Mass Wasting
- the down slope movement of rock, regolith ( unconsolidated material and soil under the
influence of gravity)
- some mass wasting processes act very slowly others occur very suddenly, often with disastrous
results.
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Factors affecting mass wasting:

1. Slope – on a flat surface, the force of gravity acts downward.
2. water – dry unconsolidated grains will form a pile with a slope angle determined by the angle of
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repose.
 Angle of repose – the steepest angle at which a pile of unconsolidated grains
remains stable and controlled by frictional contact between grains.
Triggers: land shaking and excessive rainfall.
1. rate of movement: rapid or slow.
2. type of movement: falling, sliding or flowing.
3. type of material involved.
 Types of Mass wasting processes:

Slump
- types of slides wherein downward rotation of rock or regolith occurs along a concave-upward
curved surface (rotational slides). The upper surface of each slump block remains relatively
undisturbed, as do the individual blocks.
- leave arcuate scars or depressions on the hill slope.
- can be isolated or may occur in large complexes covering thousands of square meters.
- They often form as a result of human activities, and thus are common along roads where
slopes have been oversteepened during construction.
- common along river banks and sea coasts, where erosion has under-cut the slopes. Heavy
rains and earthquakes can also trigger slumps.
Rock fall
- Occur when a piece of rock on a steep slope becomes dislodged and falls down the slope.
- Debris falls are similar, except they involve a mixture of soil, regolith, vegetation, and rocks.
- A rock fall may be a single rock or a mass of rocks, and the falling rocks can dislodge other
rocks as they collide with the cliff.
- falls commonly occur where there are steep cliffs.
- At the base of most cliffs is an accumulation of fallen material termed talus.
Slides
- Rock slides and debris slides result when rocks or debris slide down a pre-existing surface,
such as a bedding plane, foliation surface, or joint surface (joints are regularly spaced
fractures in rock that result from expansion during cooling or uplift of the rock mass).
- Piles of talus are common at the base of a rock slide or debris slide.
- Slides differ from slumps in that there is no rotation of the sliding rock mass along a curved
surface.
Mud flow
- Highly fluid, high velocity mixture of sediment and water (consistency similar to wet concrete)
- Move at velocities > 1 km/hr
- Volcanic mudflow (lahar)
Slow mass wasting process
Creep
- requires years of gradual movement ( a few inches to several feet per year) to have a
pronounced effect on a slope.
- Due to the expansion and contraction of surface sediment and the pull of gravity.

Mitigating Measures
- Hazard maps provide information about proper load use in such areas.
- Hard engineering measures (e.g construction of features to stabilize slope)
- Soft measures (monitoring)
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