Reply
Mon 16 Mar, 2015 11:58 am
I don't remember the year but time ago in southern Mexico rained a lot and there was a mud slide that sunk into a river that was nearby. This created a tsunami that killed about 10 people. The mudslide and the tsunami blocked the river watercourse, creating a geological? dam. I remember the diggers machine destroying it. I watched a program about saint helens volcano, when it erupted the ejecta was like sliding very fast, at the end it blocked a river and formed a dam. I heard it was not the first time it occurred. Again, the diggers machine came and destroyed it. Years ago a earthquake took place in China, I am not sure if it was at Sichuan, the city was in a narrow valley rounded by mountains. The earthquake made the loosened stones of the mountains to slide to the valley, I don't remember the casualties but that the stony slide blocked a river and formed a dam. Again, there were diggers destroying it. What is the geological term for these types of dams?
@tlatoanitzin,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landslide_dam
A landslide dam, debris dam, or barrier lake is a natural damming of a river by some kind of mass wasting: landslide, debris flow, rock avalanche or volcano.[1] If it is caused by earthquake, it may also be called a quake lake. Some landslide dams are as high as the largest existing artificial dam. [2]
The major causes for landslide dams investigated by 1986 are landslides from excessive precipitation and earthquakes, which account for 84%. Volcanic eruptions account for a further 7% of dams. [3] Other causes of landslides account for the remaining 9%.
Selected Answer
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace