Dorset Landslide Essay

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Case Study- Geomorphologic Hazards Dorset landslide By Carra Wilson A geomorphological hazard is a hazard that occurs due the land moving above the surface. They believe that the land slide occur in this area due to heavy rain over the period before the event combined with a recent heat wave in the area cause the land to become unstable resulting in the land slide as the limestone was just crumbling away from the rest of the cliff. The process in which caused the land to move is commonly known as slumping. Slumping is caused when rain water sinks through the porous rocks but once it reaches the underlying clays it can sink no further. The water builds up along the junction between the rock layers and seeps out of the cliffs as a series of springs. After periods of prolonged rainfall, the build up of water increases the weight of the cliff top. Increased pore pressure reduces the friction and allows large sections of the cliff top to break away. As the cliff top block subsides, it rotates along the slip plane within the cliff, resulting in the flat surface tipping back towards the cliff. The displacement shunts thousands of tonnes of material into the undercliffs, the area between the cliff top and the beach, generating mudslides within the softer Jurassic clays that in turn slide towards and across the beach. The terraced nature of the undercliffs is due to hard bands of limestone within the clays. The land slide occurred in a popular holiday hotspot within Dorset, the incident occurred at approximately 12:30 in the afternoon on Tuesday 24th July. . During the land slide 400 tonnes of rock fell from the cliff from a height of approximately 160ft.The land slide occurred in two stages first falling a little bit then the larger amount falling after. Visitors to the areas tried to evacuate from the scene after the first smaller slide occurred but
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