Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Plate 13.6 A granite inselberg in the Joshua Tree National
Park, California, USA. Severe chemical weathering along
tilted joints has reduced some blocks to huge residual
boulders and may indicate that the contemporary desert
climate has replaced earlier more humid conditions.
Photo: Ken Addison.
MASS WASTING
Weathering products seldom remain in situ for long and products must be removed for
vigorous weathering to continue. With original rock mass strength destroyed, those
products which are not washed out become prime targets of mass wasting. Mass wasting
is a general term for a variety of slope denudation processes operating under static
gravity load, rather than by water and ice moving as discrete bodies. It is preferred here to
mass movement , which implies the coherent movement of rock and soil en masse . Most
movements occur through compound translation failure - with material properties and
forms of failure changing radically during a single event. This may be apparent in the
resultant landform and is important if we are to understand and manage slope failure.
Mass wasting and slopes are not restricted to areas lacking formal designations such as
Search WWH ::




Custom Search