How are landslides formed?
Landslides are flows of rock, earth, and debris on slopes (mainly due to gravity). Landslides can also be called mud flows, mudslides, earth failures, slop failures, etc. They occur when there is a large amount of movement in the ground that causes rocks to fall. Landslides can occur on virtually any terrain (given the right soil, moisture, and slope angle conditions). Landslides serve to redistribute soil and sediment in a way that can be a slow, gradual slide or an abrupt collapse. They can be started by rains, earthquakes, floods, or other natural causes. They can also be triggered by human-made causes such as terrain cutting and filling, grading, and excessive development. The main contributor to landslide formation is gravity, but some other factors include oversteepened slopes (caused by river, glacier, or ocean wave erosion), saturated ground, earthquakes, or ash deposits from volcanoes. Though the term landslide is used to mean ‘any rapid movement of rocks and sediment downslop
