9th grade Earth Science HW Questions?

Question

I have some questions I CANNOT find the answers anywhere!


Q1: Soil creep is the gradual movement of soil downhill.
a) What force causes soil to creep?

(I'm not sure if it's gravity, or what)


b) Descibe how we can tell that soil creep is occuring.


c) What factors may increase the rate of soil creep?



And then there's this one:


Q2: Place these types of landslide in order of increasing speed:

mudflow, rock slide, earthflow, soil creep, slump.




Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

What causes erosion to be severe in some areas and minor elsewhere is a combination of many factors, including the amount and intensity of precipitation, the texture of the soil, the gradient of the slope, ground cover (from vegetation, rocks, etc.) and land use. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erosion)

Soil creep is nearly imperceptible to the naked eye as it is the slowest of all types of mass movement. Soil creep generally occurs in the top few meters of the surface and is accomplished by expansion and contraction of the soil. For instance, when water in the soil freezes the ice pushes soil particles outward perpendicular to the slope. Upon warming, the ice melts and the soil is pulled down slope under the influence of gravity. Over many freeze-thaw cycles soil moves slowly down slope. In many cases one might not be able to tell that soil creep is occurring by just examining the surface. However, trees growing on surfaces undergoing creep will have curved trunks or roots that are curved. Broken retaining walls and curved railroad tracks also indicate creep in action. (http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/mass_movement_weathering/mass_movement_1.html)

Hope this helps

Answer 2

It took you 4 times longer to type that in than it would for you to look it up in your textbook or handouts. Or instead of having others find the your answers YOU could try googling it, I just typed in soil creep and the top 5 hits answered your question with plenty of detail. Good luck, the answers are out there.