Earth Sciences Fair Project
Measure the slope angle at which different rocks slid one over another (landslide)


Projects by Grade Level
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th
Home Advanced Award Winning Warning!
Project Information
Title: Measure the slope angle at which different rocks slid one over another (landslide)
Subject: Earth Sciences
Grade level: Elementary School - Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: First Place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2005)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2005
Description: A hinged slope enables the change of the angle of the slope. A protractor attached to the base of the slope enables the measurement of the angle of the slope. Different rocks are mounted one onto another and the slope angle is changed until the slide begins in order to simulate a landslide.
Link: www.virtualsciencefair.org...
Background

A landslide includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rock falls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows.

The biggest reason for a landslide is always that there is a slope and material goes down the slope because of gravity.

But other things also contribute to landslides:

  • erosion by rivers, glaciers, or ocean waves makes slopes too steep
  • rock and soil slopes made weak through saturation by snowmelt or heavy rains
  • earthquakes create stresses that make weak slopes fail (see liquefaction, Hope Slide)
  • volcanic eruptions produce loose ash deposits, heavy rain, and debris flows
  • vibrations from machinery, traffic, blasting and even thunder may trigger failure of weak slopes
  • weight from much rain or snow, stockpiling of rock or ore, from waste piles, or from buildings may stress weak slopes to failure and other structures
  • groundwater pressure making the slope unstable
  • in shallow soils, the removal of deep-rooted plants that bind the colluvium to bedrock

The field of slope stability encompasses the analysis of static and dynamic stability of slopes of earth and rock-fill dams, slopes of other types of embankments, excavated slopes, and natural slopes in soil and soft rock.

Earthen slopes can develop a cut-spherical weakness zone. The probability of this happening can be calculated in advance using a simple 2-D circular analysis package. A primary difficulty with analysis is locating the most-probable slip plane for any given situation. Many landslides have only been analyzed after the fact.

Slope stabilisation methods in rock or in earth, can be collocated into three types of measure:

  • Geometric methods, in which the geometry of the hillside is changed (in general the slope);
  • Hydrogeological methods, in which an attempt is made to lower the groundwater level or to reduce the water content of the material;
  • Chemical and mechanical methods, in which attempts are made to increase the shear strength of the unstable mass or to introduce active external forces (e.g. anchors, rock or ground nailing) or passive (e.g. structural wells, piles or reinforced ground) to contrast the destabilising forces.

For More Information: Landslide

Source: Wikipedia (All text is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License)

Useful Links
Science Fair Projects Resources
Citation Guides, Style Manuals, Reference
General Safety Resources
Electrical Safety FAQ
Earth Sciences Fair Projects

Geology Science Fair Projects

Earth Sciences Award Winning Projects

Earth Sciences Experiments
Books

                   



Projects Home
Primary School
Elementary School
Middle School
High School
Advanced
Easy Projects
Award Winning
Popular Ideas
Branches of Science
Experiments

Science Fair Project Guide
Home
Science Fair Project Types
The Scientific Method - How to Experiment
The Display Board
Topics, Ideas, Sample Projects

Repeat Famous Experiments and Inventions
Science Jokes Science Trivia
Scientists & Inventors

Read for Free
The Science Fair
A Juvenile Science Adventure Novel
by Julian T. Rubin

Human Abridged Wikipedia Articles



My Dog Kelly

Follow Us On:
     

Privacy Policy - Site Map - About Us - Letters to the Editor

Comments and inquiries:
webmaster@julianTrubin.com


Last updated: January 2018
Copyright © 2003-2018 Julian Rubin