Essay/Term paper: Avalanches and landslides

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Geography

Avalanches and Landslides


Submitted to: Ms.Delgado
GEOGRAPHY
12/9/96

By DEWAYNE REDD

OUTLINE


1. a.WHAT IS AN AVALANCHE OR LANDSLIDE?
b.EXACTLY HOW DOES AN AVALANCHES OCCUR
2. a.I TALK A LITTLE ABOUT PAST AVALANCHES
b.PAST DEATHS FROM AVALANCHES
3. a.CONCLUSION CLOSING OF MY REPORT

What is an avalanche? , well it's a large mass of snow and ice or of earth or
rock sliding down a mountain side or a cliff. And how does an avalanche occur,
well mainly they happen by vibrations caused by movement of the earth such as an
earthquake, gunfire, rainy weather, and many more.

Now I would like to talk a little about past avalanches and landslides that have
occurred like the 1903 Frank landslide and avalanche that happened at the same
time, in Alberta Canada it destroyed the parks canyons it's beautiful trees'
it's wonderful sights and killed nearly one hundred people, and covered a small
town near Alberta with ice and snow.

Another devastating avalanche incident is the 1964 Sherman slide, in which a
huge avalanche was triggered by the 1964 Alaskan earthquake. The slide spilled
out onto the Sherman glacier, during the big slide several other smaller slides
happened and those were the one that took lives in Anchorage, and destroyed
property

There are a couple of types of avalanches and how the destroy so much this one
is named "Loose Snow Avalanches"1, it starts' in a small area then grows in size
and mass as it descends.Another type is the "Slab Avalanche" it actually starts
in a large area of ice and snow and then begins to slide.

On September 12 of 1717 crusaded down the Troilet, Italy glacier, gaining speed
on a cushion of air reaching a falling velocity of km/hr over a 3600 m fall.
Two towns were destroyed, with seven people killed and a 120 cows lost. The
slosh of an avalanche ran up the far side of the valley at a speed of 125 km/hr.

In developed areas such as ski resorts it is possible to predict avalanches
because they are controlled with explosives and artillery. In a back-country
areas it is possible to predict avalanches because the forecast relies on
experience of the person making the observation. There are no computer models
available to predict avalanches and therefore predictions are only accomplished
by repetitive observations and knowledge of snow properties.

Due to difficulty in reliable predictions method areas of avalanche hazards must
rely on controlling or altering the effects of an avalanche.

The back country explorer must be highly skilled in determining safe routes and
rescue procedures over and above relying on predictions of avalanches for
personal safety.

Avalanches kill people many ways but the most common cause of death is
suffocation. There is little air trapped in the avalanche and within a short
period of time the victim loses consciousness and dies. A victim can also be
killed from the force of the snow slamming into the body or by traveling in the
avalanches and being smashed against trees and other objects.

Knowledge can help you avoid being caught by a snow avalanche, it may help you
survive if you are buried.

Snow avalanches are natural phenomena so complex one can never have all the
information necessary to predict avalanche conditions with certainty. Well this
is my report on avalanches hope you learned more on avalanches but we will never
know all there is to know about avalanches, sorry it's not the five pages I was
lucky to find this little amount of information.NOTES