Erosion – the action of exogenic processes (such as water flow or wind) which remove soil and rock from one location, then transport it to another location where it is deposited.
- Eroded sediment may be transported just a few millimetres, or for thousands of kilometres.
- While erosion is a natural process, human activities have increased by 10-40 times the rate at which erosion is occurring globally.
Vegetation and slope stability – the ability of the plant life growing on slopes to both promote and hinder the stability of the slope. The relationship is a complex combination of the type of soil, the rainfall, the plant species present, the slope aspect, and the steepness of the slope. Knowledge of the underlying slope stability as a function of the soil type, its age, horizon development, compaction, and other impacts is a major underlying aspect of understanding how vegetation can alter the stability of the slope.
There are four major ways in which vegetation influences slope stability: wind throwing, the removal of water, mass of vegetation (surcharge), and mechanical reinforcement of roots.
What’s the problem?
- Ask –
- Imagine –
- Design, Build –
- Improve –
That’s engineering
- abrasive erosion – erosive wear caused by the relative motion of solid particles which are entrained in a fluid, moving nearly parallel to a solid surface.
Engineering ideas
- erosion, abrasion, wear, entrained, fluid, solid
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