Earth Sci 2GG3 Lecture Five

Landslides & Avalanches:

- Terrain Factors
o Slope Angle
Avalanches tend to occur on slopes with angles between 25 and 60
degrees
Most large avalanches occur between 30 and 45 degrees
o Slope Orientation
Leeward slopes
o Other factors:
Convex more dangerous than concave slopes
Avalanches more common on smooth slopes
Vegetation may anchor snow path
Gullies or ravines may funnel avalanches, increasing their destructive
force
- Geographic Regions at Risk of Avalanches
o British Columbia has the greatest avalanche risk
o Some along the East Coast (Appalachian Mountains)
o West coast has more ski resorts, so we notice these ones a lot more ---- affects
recreational
- Impacts of Avalanches
o Human deaths (600 in Canada since mid-1800s)
o Economic losses (destruction, blockage of roads & property damage)
Not very relevant compared to other disasters
- Links and Natural Service Function
o Link to Natural Hazards:
Earthquakes can trigger avalanches
Climate chance may increase snowfall --- increase probability of
avalanches occurring
o Natural Service Functions
Increase local plan and animal diversity
Provides open areas for wildlife
- Human Interaction and Minimizing Risk
o Increased human interaction with avalanches
Building developments are encroaching into areas prone to avalanches
Winter leisure and recreation activates have increased in popularity (net
more people skiing, snowboarding, etc.)
o How do we minimize risk?
Locating structures away from areas prone to avalanche

Engineering structures to deflect snow

Reinforcing exposed structures
Triggering controlled avalanches with explosives
Forecasting
o Minimizing Risk
Location of Infrastructure
Risk is determined by determining avalanche frequency, risk and
distribution
Structures
Fences, nets, barns and avalanche sheds used for protection
Triggering
Explosive charges projected from cannons, fired by artillery, or
dropped from helicopters
Forecasting
Based on four types of information
o Observed occurrences of avalanches
o Stability and strength tests: shovel, compression and
rutschblock tests (dig a hole, walk seven steps away, then
walk slowly step by step towards hole and count the
step when it gives away ---- if it gives on third step, then
risk is 3)
o Snowpack observations
o Weather
92% if 15 mins, 30% after 35 mins & almost 0% after 2 hours.
20 people survive

Subsidence and Soil Expansion and Contraction:

Guatemala City, Guatemala
- Sinkhole roughly 60 m wide
- Three storey building fell in (and isnt visible)
- Soil got saturated, cavities in the ground below, and this lead to an instantaneous
collapse
- Karstic landscape ---- carbonate rocks (limestone) dissolved to form caves /
underground drainage systems
Introduction
- Subsidence is a slow or rapid, nearly vertical downward movement of Earths surface

Karst
o Landscape resulting from the dissolution of limestone, dolostone, marble,
gypsum or rock salt
Soil expansion and contraction results from:
o Changes in the water content of the soil
o Freezing and thawing
Subsidence is not usually life threating, but is one of the most widespread and costly
natural hazards

Karst
- Common type of landscape associated with subsidence
- Rocks are dissolved by surface water or groundwater
- Dissolution produced voids which join to form caves and sinkholes (doline --- scientific
name)
- A surface pockmarked with a large number of sinkholes is a karst plain
NEED TO KNOW: diagnostic features/landscapes of sinkholes/doline, rocks themselves
dissolved by water
Sinkholes:
- Can range from one to several hundred meters in diameter
- Two basic types:
o Solution sinkholes
Pits formed by dissolution of buried bedrock along planes and fractures
Most common will form slowly over time
Like a puddle depression in the ground gets filled in and erodes
what it can (and repeat)
o Collapse sinkholes
Collapse of surface or near-surface rock or sediment
Cavern/cave underground that gives away, and everything collapses
Cave Systems:
- Cave systems are formed when dissolution produces a series of caves
- Related to a fluctuating groundwater table
- Groundwater seepage will deposit calcium carbonate on the sides, floor and ceiling of
the cave as flowstone, stalagmites and stalactites
- Note: once a cave starts, gravity takes over as all, resulting in quicker erosion
Tower Karst, Disappearing Streams & Springs:
- Tower karst is created in highly eroded karst regions
o Steep limestone pillars common in humid tropical regions

Disappearing streams are streams that flow from the surface into cave openings
Springs are natural discharge of groundwater at the surface
o Vulnerable to contamination

Permafrost
- Soil or rock must remain cemented with ice for at least 2 years
- More than half of Canada is underlain by permafrost
- Continuous permafrost
o Mean annual temperature is less than -5C
- Discontinuous permafrost
o Covers 50-90% of the landscape in an area
o Mean annual temperature between -4C and -2C
- Sporadic permafrost
o Covers less than 50% of the landscape in an area
o Mean annual temperature is between -2C and 0C
- The active region thaws in spring and refreezes in fall
o When permafrost thaws, it cans create land subsidence
o Extensive thawing creates uneven soil called thermokarst
- Frost-susceptible sediments expand when they freeze
o Causes frost heaving
- CLIMATE CHANGE
o Melts permafrost, releases methane, heats the planet, melts more permafrost,
releases more greenhouse gasses ---- positive feedback loop
- City on Permafrost
o Issues with where to put sewage
o Dont want to melt the ground or could face serious problems
Piping
- Particles of silt and sand in the subsurface slowly carried by groundwater laterally to a
spring
- Caused by groundwater creating tunnels as it percolates through lose sediments
- Common in silt and sand sediments
- Over time, shallow subterranean tunnels and cavities may develop to produce surface
depressions and ravines
Sediment Compaction
- Fine sediments
o Sediment compacts when pore water is removed
o Common on river deltas
o Flooding replenishes sediment thwarting compaction
- Collapsible sediments

o Loess (wind-blown sediments) and some stream deposits in arid regions are
loosely bound or are water-soluble
o Infiltrating water weakens bonds, causing sediment to compact
Organic sediments
o Wetland soils may contain large amounts of organic matters and water
o When water is drained or soil is decomposed, these soils compact

Expansive Soils
- These soils expand during wet periods and shrink during dry periods
- Common in clay, shale and clay-rick soil contain smectite
- Can produce desiccation rocks
- Tilting and cracking of blocks of concrete and wavy bumps in asphalt can cause
structural damage
Earthquakes and Deflation of Magma Chambers
- Can lower the ground surface over large areas
- Coastal subsidence can cause flooding
- The outer coasts of Vancouver Island, Washington and Oregon have repeatedly been
lowered by earthquakes
- Magma uplifts the volcano during an eruption
- The chamber empties after an eruption, surface subsides
Regions at Risk
- Landscapes underlain by soluble rocks, permafrost or easily compacted sediment
- Soils that contain abundant smectite clay are susceptible to shrinking and swelling soils
- Soils containing sit are susceptible to frost heaving
Effects of Subsidence and Soil Expansion and Contraction
- Sinkhole formation
o Can cause considerable damage, highways, homes & sewage lines
o Triggered by fluctuations in river table
Water level lowers, cavern ceiling collapses = sinkhole
- Groundwater Use and Contamination
o Caves provide direct connections between surface water and groundwater
o Groundwater can be vulnerable to pollution
o The water table can significantly lower during droughts
- Permafrost Thaw
o Melting of permafrost has caused roads to cave in, airport runways to fracture,
railroad tracks to buckle and buildings to crack, tilt or collapse
- Coastal Flooding and Loss of Wetlands
o Along the Mississippi Delta, this has contributed to the sinking of New Orleans

o Wetlands that protect the city from surges are disappearing

Soil Volume Changes
o Swelling of expansive soils and frost heaving
o Causes billions of dollars in damage annually in North America

Links to Other Natural Hazards

- Subsidence can be an effect of earthquakes, volcanic activity and climate change
o Climate chance can add to the drying of soils and the altering of the groundwater
table
- Subsidence may cause flooding
o Over-pumping of groundwater
- Water Supply
o Karst regions contain the worlds most abundant water supply
- Aesthetic and Scientific Resources
o Caves and karst landscapes are scenic areas that attract tourists and provide
research for scientists
- Unique Ecosystems
o Some animal species can only live in caves
o Caves also provide shelter for other animals
Human Interaction with Subsidence
- Withdrawal of Fluids
o Pumping oil, natural gas or groundwater decreases fluid pressure, causing rocks
and sediment to subsidence
- Underground Mining
o Coal mine structures have collapsed
o Water is used to dissolve and pump out salt, leaving behind cavities
o Flooding in salt mines can also cause sinkholes
- Permafrost Thaw
o Poorly insulated buildings directly on frozen ground
o Burial of warm utility lines
- Restricting Deltaic Sedimentation
o Construction of dams, levees or canals
- Draining Wetlands
o Soil is drained for agriculture and settlement
o Extraction of peat for horticulture
- Landscaping on Expansive Soils
o Poor landscaping practices
o Adding or removing plant changes water levels, contributing to shrinking and
swelling soils

Minimizing Subsidence Hazards

- Restricting Fluid Withdrawal
o Preventing oil and groundwater extraction
o Injection wells add water when oil is pumped
- Regulating Mining
o Prohibit mining in settled areas
- Preventing Damage from Thawing Permafrost
o New engineering for buildings and pipelines on permafrost
- Reducing damage from Deltaic Subsidence
o Removing or breaching levees could re-establish marshes
- Stopping the Draining of Wetlands
o Proper water management of existing marshes and swamps
- Preventing Damage from Expansive Soils
o Design of subsurface drains, rain gutters & foundations
o Construct buildings on a layer of compacted fill
Perception of and Adjustments to Subsidence Soil Hazards
- Perception of Subsidence and Soil Hazards
o Few people are aware of the extent of these natural hazards
o People who live in dramatically affected areas are more aware than others
- Adjustments to Subsidence and Soil Hazards
o Geologic and soil mapping
Helps in predicting and avoiding areas when subsidence might occur
o Surface features
Cracks, hummocky grounds & closed depressions are signs of subsidence
o Geophysical surveys
Knowledge of subsurface environment is essential

River Flooding
Introduction
- Stream and rivers are part of the hydrologic cycle
- Surface flow (runoff) finds its way to streams
- Streams are tributaries of rivers
- A region drained by a single stream is called a drainage, watershed, river basin or
catchment
- The gradient of a river is determined by calculating its drop in elevation over distance
o Greatest in headwaters, decreases downstream and is lowest at the river mouth,
which is its base level (base level = sedimentation and erosion rate are the same)
Water erodes only as low as the local water table level

 Hamilton --- base level is Lake Ontario (70 m above sea level)
o The slope of a river is shown on a longitudinal profile
o The valley of a river is steeper-sided and narrower in its headwaters
o The floodplain is the flat surface adjacent to the channel
Earth Material Transported by Rivers
- Rivers move a tremendous amount of material
- Bed load
o Particles of sand and gravel that slide, roll and bounce (saltation) along the
bottom of a channel in rapidly moving water
- Suspended load
o Silt and clay particles that are carried in the water
Accounts for nearly 90% of the total load of most rivers
o Dissolved load
Ions that are carried in solution in the water
River Velocity, Discharge, Erosion and Deposition
- Amount of erosion and deposition depends on stream area (A), velocity (V) and
discharge (Q)
- Discharge is the volume of water flowing through a cross section of a river per unit time
(Q = V*A)
- Changes in area lead to changes in velocity
o Narrow channel have higher velocity wide ones
- When a river slows, it deposits sediment creating an alluvial on land or a delta in water