- Avalanche
- a large mass of snow, ice, soil, rock, or mixture of these, which falls or
slides very rapidly under the force of gravity.
- Bed
- a layer of rock, usually sedimentary or volcanic.
- Bedrock
- a term used to describe the solid rock that underlies soil or other
unconsolidated material.
- Creep
- the gradual movement of soil and other
materials down a slope.
- Earthquake
- A naturally occurring shaking motion of the Earth's surface.
Earthquakes are caused when stress, building up within rocks of the
Earth's crust, is released in a sudden jolt.
Fall
a landslide in which material free falls.
Flow
viscous to fluid-like motion of debris down a
slope.
Geotechnics
the use of engineering principles to understand how earth materials, such
as soils and rocks, behave. This knowledge is applied to better design
engineering structures.
Glacial sediments
sediments which form as a result of the actions of ice or glaciers.
Glaciolacustrine
pertaining to lakes dammed by or bordering glaciers.
Ground water
water which occurs underground, as opposed to surface water.
Joint
a fracture or parting in rock without any apparent displacement.
Landslide
a general term used to describe the down-slope movement of soil, rock and
organic materials under the influence of gravity. It also describes the
landform that results.
Metamorphic rocks
rocks which have formed from pre-existing rocks due to changes in
temperature, pressure, stress or chemistry.
Sedimentary rocks
rocks formed by the accumulation of fragments, or the precipitation of
dissolved material, that result from the weathering of pre-existing rocks.
Slide
the movement of rock or unconsolidated material
parallel to planes of weakness and occasionally parallel to slope.
Slump
the complex movement of materials on a slope;
includes rotational slump.
Topple
the end-over-end motion of rock down a slope.
Torrent
a sporadic and sudden channelized discharge
of water and debris.
Unconsolidated
loose sediment that has not been cemented or otherwise converted to solid
rock.
Volcanic rocks
rocks which result from volcanic action at, or near, the surface of the
Earth such as lava flows or ash deposits.
Weathering
the disintegration of rocks on the Earth's surface by the action of rain,
frost, heat, wind, etc.
|
Landslides in B.C. Home Page
 |
Landslides in British Columbia was originally produced as
Information Circular 1993-7 by the BC Geological Survey of the B.C. Ministry of
Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources in cooperation with the B.C. Ministry of Health, the B.C.
Ministry of Transportation and Highways, the B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and
Parks, the B.C. Ministry of Forests, the B.C. Provincial Emergency Program, and with the
assistance of the Geological Survey of Canada. |
Copies are available from:
|
Publications
Office
BC Geological Survey
Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources
P.O. Box 9333. Stn Prov Gov't
Victoria, B.C.
V8W 9N3 |
This page was last updated:
March 08, 2006. |
