GEOLOGIC PROCESSES
& HAZARDS
Julie Ann Sapia-an
Michelle Jaine Gonido
Rasheed Wes Pakingan
GEOLOGY
• the science that deals with the dynamics
and physical history of the earth, the rocks
of which it is composed, and the physical,
chemical, and biological changes that the
earth has undergone or is undergoing.
GEOLOGIC HAZARDS
• is an extreme natural events in the crust of the earth that
pose a threat to life and property, for example,
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis (tidal waves)
and landslides.
• A geologic hazard is one of several types of adverse
geologic conditions capable of causing damage or loss of
property and life.
EXAMPLES OF GEOLOGIC HAZARDS
• Earthquakes – Liquefaction (soils), Tsunamis.
• Volcanic Eruptions – Lava Flows, Ash Fall, Lahars.
• Landslides – Rock Falls or Slides, Debris Flows, Mud
Flows.
EARTHQUAKES
• An earthquake is
caused by the sudden
release of slowly
accumulating strain
energy along a fault
within the earth's crust.
Earthquake Effects and the Hazards They Cause
• Ground Shaking
> first main earthquake hazard (danger) is the effect of
ground shaking. Buildings can be damaged by the shaking
itself or by the ground beneath them settling to a different
level than it was before the earthquake (subsidence).
Earthquake Effects and the Hazards They Cause
• Ground Displacement
>The second main earthquake hazard is ground displacement
(ground movement) along a fault. If a structure (a building,
road, etc.) is built across a fault, the ground displacement
during an earthquake could seriously damage or rip apart that
structure.
Earthquake Effects and the Hazards They Cause
• Flooding
>The third main hazard is flooding. An earthquake can
rupture (break) dams or levees along a river. The water from
the river or the reservoir would then flood the area, damaging
buildings and maybe sweeping away or drowning people.
Earthquake Effects and the Hazards They Cause
• Tsunamis and seiches can also cause a great deal of
damage. A tsunami is what most people call a tidal wave,
but it has nothing to do with the tides on the ocean. It is a
huge wave caused by an earthquake under the ocean.
Tsunamis can be tens of feet high when they hit the shore
and can do enormous damage to the coastline. Seiches
are like small tsunamis. They occur on lakes that are
shaken by the earthquake and are usually only a few feet
high, but they can still flood or knock down houses, and
tip over trees.
Earthquake Effects and the Hazards They Cause
• Fire
>The fourth main earthquake hazard is fire. These fires can
be started by broken gas lines and power lines, or tipped
over wood or coal stoves. They can be a serious problem,
especially if the water lines that feed the fire hydrants are
broken, too. For example, after the Great San Francisco
Earthquake in 1906, the city burned for three days. Most of
the city was destroyed and 250,000 people were left
homeless.
Volcanic Eruptions
• A build up of pressure in the earth is released, by things
such as a plate movement which forces molten rock to
exploded into the air causing a volcanic eruption.
• The most common type of eruption is caused by the
movement of tectonic plates.
• When one is pushed under the other the magma,
sediment and seawater is forced into the chamber which
eventually overflows and the volcano erupts spewing lava
into the sky.
3 MAIN CAUSES OF VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
• Although there are several factors triggering a volcanic
eruption, three predominate: the buoyancy of the magma,
the pressure from the exsolved gases in the magma and
the injection of a new batch of magma into an already
filled magma chamber.
Types of eruptions
• Hydrothermal eruption
• An eruption driven by the heat in a hydrothermal systems. Hydrothermal eruptions pulverise
surrounding rocks and can produce ash, but do not include magma. These are typically very
small eruptions
• Phreatic eruption
• An eruption driven by the heat from magma interacting with water. The water can be from
groundwater, hydrothermal systems, surface runoff, a lake or the sea. Phreatic eruptions
pulverise surrounding rocks and can produce ash, but do not include new magma.
• Phreatomagmatic eruption
• An eruption resulting from the interaction of new magma or lava with water and can be very
explosive. The water can be from groundwater, hydrothermal systems, surface runoff, a lake or
the sea.
Types of eruptions
• Strombolian and Hawaiian eruptions
• These are the least violent types of explosive eruptions. Hawaiian eruptions have fire
fountains and lava flows, whereas Strombolian eruptions have explosions causing a shower
of lava fragments.
• Vulcanian eruptions
• Vulcanian eruptions are small to moderate explosive eruptions, lasting seconds to minutes.
Ash columns can be up to 20 km in height, and lava blocks and bombs may be ejected from
the vent.
• Subplinian and Plinian eruptions
• Eruptions with a high rate of magma discharge, sustained for minutes to hours. They form a
tall, convective eruption column of a mixture of gas and rock particles, and can cause wide
dispersion of ash.
HOW DOES IT AFFECTS HUMANS?
• If the ashfall is really heavy it can make it impossible to
breathe. Lava flows are almost always too slow to run
over people, but they can certainly run over houses,
roads, and any other structures. Pyroclastic flows are
mixtures of hot gas and ash, and they travel very quickly
down the slopes of volcanoes.
HOW DOES IT AFFECTS HUMANS?
• Volcanoes affect people in many ways, some are good, some
are not. Some of the bad ways are that houses, buildings,
roads, and fields can get covered with ash. As long as you can
get the ash off (especially if it is wet), your house may not
collapse, but often the people leave because of the ash and are
not around to continually clean off their roofs. If the ashfall is
really heavy it can make it impossible to breathe.
• Lava flows are almost always too slow to run over people, but
they can certainly run over houses, roads, and any other
structures.
• Pyroclastic flows are mixtures of hot gas and ash. They are so
hot and choking that if you are caught in one it will kill you.
Landslides
• A landslide is defined as the movement of a mass of rock,
debris, or earth down a slope. Landslides are a type of "mass
wasting," which denotes any down-slope movement of soil
and rock under the direct influence of gravity. The term
"landslide" encompasses five modes of slope movement:
falls, topples, slides, spreads, and flows.
Landslide Impact and Mitigation
• In the typical year, landslides in the United States cause
billions of dollars in property damage and kill dozens of
people. Casualties in the United States are primarily
caused by rockfalls, rockslides, and debris flows.
Worldwide, landslides cause thousands of casualties and
result in many billions in monetary losses each year.
The Landslide Process
• The term "landslide" describes a wide variety of
processes that result in the downward and outward
movement of slope-forming materials including rock, soil,
artificial fill, or a combination of these. The materials may
move by falling, toppling, sliding, spreading, or flowing.
TYPES OF LANDSLIDES
• Rotational slide: This is a slide in which the surface of
rupture is curved concavely upward, and the slide
movement is roughly rotational about an axis that is
parallel to the ground surface and transverse across the
slide.
TYPES OF LANDSLIDES
• Translational slide: In this type of slide, the landslide mass
moves along a roughly planar surface with little rotation or
backward tilting.
TYPES OF LANDSLIDES
• Block slide: A translational slide in which the moving mass
consists of a single unit or a few closely related units that
move downslope as a relatively coherent mass.
FALLS
• Rockfall: Falls are abrupt movements of masses of
geologic materials, such as rocks and boulders, that
become detached from steep slopes or cliffs. Separation
occurs along discontinuities such as fractures, joints, and
bedding planes, and movement occurs by free-fall,
bouncing, and rolling. Falls are strongly influenced by
gravity, mechanical weathering, and the presence of
interstitial water.
FALLS
• Topple:
• Toppling failures are distinguished by the forward rotation
of a unit or units about some pivotal point, below or low in
the unit, under the actions of gravity and forces exerted by
adjacent units or by fluids in cracks.
FLOWS
• Debris flow: A debris flow is a form of rapid mass
movement in which a combination of loose soil, rock,
organic matter, air, and water mobilize as a slurry that
flows downslope.
• Earthflow: Earthflows have a characteristic "hourglass"
shape. The slope material liquefies and runs out, forming
a bowl or depression at the head.
FLOWS
• Debris avalanche: This is a variety of very rapid to
extremely rapid debris flow.
• Creep: Creep is the imperceptibly slow, steady, downward
movement of slope-forming soil or rock. Movement is
caused by shear stress sufficient to produce permanent
deformation, but too small to produce shear failure. There
are generally three types of creep:
FLOWS
• Lateral Spreads: Lateral spreads are distinctive because
they usually occur on very gentle slopes or flat terrain.
The dominant mode of movement is lateral extension
accompanied by shear or tensile fractures.
CAUSES OF LANDSLIDES
• Landslides and Water
• >Slope saturation by water is a primary cause of
landslides. This effect can occur in the form of intense
rainfall, snowmelt, changes in groundwater levels, and
water level changes along coastlines, earth dams, and the
banks of lakes, reservoirs, canals, and rivers.
CAUSES OF LANDSLIDES
• Landsliding and flooding are closely allied because both
are related to precipitation, runoff, and the saturation of
ground by water.
• Landslides can cause flooding by forming landslide dams
that block valleys and stream channels, allowing large
amounts of water to back up.
Landslides and Seismic Activity
• Many mountainous areas that are vulnerable to landslides
have also experienced at least moderate rates of
earthquake occurrence in recorded times. The occurrence
of earthquakes in steep landslide-prone areas greatly
increases the likelihood that landslides will occur, due to
ground shaking alone or shaking- caused dilation of soil
materials, which allows rapid infiltration of water.
Areas that are generally prone to landslide hazards
• On existing old landslides.
• On or at the base of slopes.
• In or at the base of minor drainage hollows.
• At the base or top of an old fill slope.
• At the base or top of a steep cut slope.
• Developed hillsides where leach field septic systems are
used.
Areas that are typically considered safe from landslides
• On hard, non-jointed bedrock that has not moved in the
past.
• On relatively flat-lying areas away from sudden changes
in slope angle.
• At the top or along the nose of ridges, set back from the
tops of slopes.