STURZSTROM

A 'sturzstrom' is a rare, unique type of landslide. It consists of dry soil and rock and moves a great amount of distance horizontally compared to its distance vertically. Sturzstroms are similar to glaciers, mudslides, and lava flows. Sturzstroms flow across land fairly easily, and their mobility increases when volume increases. They have been found on other bodies in the solar system, including the moon, Mars, Venus, Io, Callisto, and Phobos.

Contents
Movement
See also
Sources
Movement

The Mt St Helens landslide was a sturzstrom. The slide took place here, on the north face, and the gap created can be seen here.

A sturzstrom is caused by a trigger, such as an earthquake or volcano. It moves rapidly, but does not necessarily require water to be present within it to move. Therefore, there is no definite explanation for their movement. The leading theory is that sturzstroms ride on "air cushions", or dust clouds generated by itself. This is called acoustic fluidization.
Once moving, it can ride over nearly any terrain. It more often moves over horizontal ground, more than downward-sloped ground. Its momentum can carry it up small hills.

See also



Slump

Pyroclastic flow
Sources


"Sturzstroms are unusually mobile rock avalanches"

"Catastrophic Debris Streams (Sturzstroms) Generated by Rockfalls"

This article provided by Wikipedia. To edit the contents of this article, click here for original source.

psst.. try this: add to faves