(a) erode
to prevent landslides
(d) none of the abc
5. A sphere where all forms of life are found and the living organisms interact with one another is
(6) Hydrosphere
(a) Lithosphere
(c) Atmosphere
(d) Biosphere
Answers
Answer:
Landslides have a varied effect on the world around us, sometimes causing entire hills or mountains to move and utterly redesigning the area. Landslide are incredibly destructive, they modify the landscape and disturb the surrounding environment. However, they are essential for ecosystem cycling in the natural environment. Below are a few ways that landslides affect and are effected by the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere:
Lithosphere- Landslides directly change the surface shape of the lithosphere, they are also sometimes caused by the movements of the lithosphere. Tectonic plate movement that can cause earthquakes can often trigger unstable soil movement at high speeds. Most landslides we cover will involve the alteration of the Lithosphere.
Atmosphere- William Schulz at the United States Geological Survey in Denver Colorado, has been studying the movement of an enormous landslide in south west Colorado known as Slumgullion. Slumgullion is a very slow moving landslide that on average only move 1-2cm a day but has been moving for years. Schulz found that the landslides movement was not continuous but closely correlated with atmospheric tides. atmospheric tides are small variations in pressure that occur as air warms during the day. "The landslide mainly moves when the pressure drops (at night)" notes Schulz. However, not much else is known about the effects on the lithosphere at the present.
Hydrosphere- Imaging a large cliff with a river at the bottom that's been there for hundreds of years, and through erosion the cliff now sticks out over the water by several meters. What would happen if the weight of the cliff edge became too great for the cliff to withstand? It falls, and sometimes the fall of these large rocks can be devastating to the ecology. These rock falls can cause the river to be blocked, destroying entire ecosystems and in some occasions cause tsunamis that drag land dwellers to their deaths. Landslides occur all over earth, not just on the continental crust and in the ocean landslides can destroy fragile coral reefs and even cause relatively large tsunamis. One example of a large tsunami being created by underwater landslides was in 1998 when a earthquake triggered a underwater landslide, creating a seven meter hight tsunami to sweep over 3 coastal villages in Papua New Guinea killing over 2,000 people.
Biosphere- As was mentioned above, landslides can have devastating effects on all living creatures. They can destroy acres of forests in seconds, pulling down all life with them, crushing unsuspecting people below them, and forcing entire towns to move due to the sheer potential for devastation all large landslides have. A very recent example of a deadly landslide was in Oso, Washington, United States on March 22, 2014 which engulfed a rural neighbourhood and killed 41 people