Well, future PhD candidate Adrienne Patton (that's not a jinx b/c I said "future"), landslides are caused when massive amounts of rain saturate the soil of a hilside, creating extremely muddy soils. Due to the way that soils are deposited in layers, some layers may be weaker than others. Then weaker layers underlye top layers and then become even weaker by the addition of water, the whole side of a slope can give way and come tumbling down the hillside, completely obliterating anything in it's way. Think of it as a tidal wave, only it's made of mud, trees, and rocks.
Factors that can contribute to the prevalance of mudslides include rainfall and vegetation cover. Roots from plants help to hold the soil in place when it rains. So if the hillside had been deforested, as the news article said it had, that could have definitely contributed to the mudslide. Really sad stuff.
it's really sad. i'm glad i don't have relatives there. and today, when i was watching CNN, it said there was a bombing in manila. aye...the philippines...sigh
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Factors that can contribute to the prevalance of mudslides include rainfall and vegetation cover. Roots from plants help to hold the soil in place when it rains. So if the hillside had been deforested, as the news article said it had, that could have definitely contributed to the mudslide. Really sad stuff.
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