What Are Landslides And Avalanches? Are Avalanche And Landslide The Same?

Although humanity has always got love from mother nature, but there are some such things in nature that can prove to be very dangerous for humans as well as other living beings. Avalanches and landslides are two of these natural catastrophic events that have wreaked havoc on the Earth many times. 

Avalanche

Avalanche is also called Snowslide and it occurs when there is a rapid flow of snow down a hill or mountain slope after the breaking of an unstable mass of snow. This sudden flow of snow slides down very quickly taking more snow along with it, getting bigger in size, and becomes dangerous. Avalanches can be triggered by a number of factors, such as increased precipitation or weakening of the snowpack, or interference from external means such as humans, animals, and earthquakes. Sometimes these Avalanches drag not only snow and wind with them but also whatever comes on their way. Avalanches normally occur in spring or winter.

Avalanches may occur in four different forms. Slab Avalanche, Loose Snow Avalanche, Powder Snow Avalanche, and Wet Snow Avalanche. The slab avalanches are triggered by the collapse of an underlying weak snow layer and the loose avalanches are made of loose snow that have a milder impact. Wet snow avalanches are often triggered by rain and abundant sunshine, which weakens the strength of the snowpack. Avalanches usually move very fast and if an avalanche moves fast enough, some of the snow may mix with the wind, causing a powder snow avalanche.

Avalanches bring a huge amount of devastation in mountainous areas, due to which life there comes to a standstill. Therefore, a lot of efforts have been put into avalanche control. Avalanches are usually different from mudflows, rock slides, mudslides, and serac collapses. These catastrophic events come suddenly and can be fatal. In 1970, a deadly avalanche of ice and rocks devastated the town of Yungay, Peru, killing 22,000 people.

Landslide

When rocks or clay starts sliding down rapidly from a slope, it is called Landslide. Both natural and human factors are important in the factors responsible for landslides. A landslide is a scientific phenomenon, under which soil, rocks, and vegetation that have been rendered ungrounded due to heavy rains, floods, or earthquakes slide down from their respective places under the influence of gravitational force from the mountain slopes. In Addition, the biggest cause of landslides is the indiscriminate cutting of forests. Because the roots of the trees do not only bind the soil but also the rocks. 

Due to the cutting of trees, the grip of the soil on the stones decreases, and when the soil is washed away with the rain, even the big stones on the hills slide down. Furthermore, irregular construction works in hilly areas also give rise to landslides. Nowadays, along with heavy machines, blasting is also being used in building roads and tunnels. Due to such activities, cracks may appear in the rocks, and over the course of time, this situation becomes the cause of landslides. Landslides are also observed in the areas of volcanic eruptions.

It is one of the most dangerous natural events, which is somewhere quite similar to an Avalanche, except instead of snow, it contains rock, soil, debris, or clayey materials. It is counted among those natural calamities, due to which the economy of that place has to suffer a lot. There was a loss of about $3.5 billion due to the landslides in the United States. 

The deadliest landslide event ever recorded on the planet was the 1920 Haiyuan Landslides, which occurred in China after an earthquake hit the region, killing more than 200,000 people.