largest landslip in Europe. physical causes: mountain composed of alternating permeable sandstones and impermeable shales which dip slightly towards valley. shales (finely bedded mudstones) can be crumbled easily so little strength. upper layer gets slippery...
April 2013, had landslides when 135million tonnes of rock and rubble moved into the open pit. slide was of solid bedrock that broke from upper half of slope with waste rock from mine that has been piled above, weight putting additional stress on slope. rock slid...
area suffered highest death toll from mass movements in recent times in December 1999 when 30,000 died in towns along Caribbean coast. actual number is unknown as many people swept out to sea. mass movements fuelled down steep valleys on the north side of the sierra...
Global distribution of areas most at risk from large scale tropical atmospheric disturbances and small-scale atmospheric disturbances hazardous tropical cyclones are very large low-pressure systems with wind speeds above 119km/h and deep low pressure (880mb),...
a tornado is a violent, rapidly rotating and fast moving, narrow, funnel shaped column of cloud that extends from base of a cumulonimbus cloud to the ground. the wind makes it most violent type of storm. stronger winds than cyclones, 500 km/h. have very low pressure...
Most from plate boundaries, hot spots and fault lines Some can be non-tectonic, caused by human activity putting too much stress on faults (e.g. reservoir construction) Plates try to move, get stuck and stress builds. They break free but causes pressure release...
Results from build-up of molten material emitted onto surface through fissure in crust. Active volcanoes: erupted in last 80 years Dormant volcanoes: inactive but may be active again Extinct volcanoes: will not erupt again Primary hazards: Gases water vapour...
movement is mainly through the air in rock and debris falls. slides and flows move on the surface both down and out. more rapid are more dangerous. slide is distinguished from a flow by being a solid mass moving along a single failure plane or fracture zone. ...