Mass Wasting web assignment Mass Wasting Web Assignment Read Chapter 14 carefully in preparation for this work. Also read the material below as a supplement to the text. Questions related to this supplementary material will appear on the next exam To begin our understanding of mass wasting processes, we must first understand the forces that control mass wasting.
Gravity is of most importance.
Consider a slope with the angle shown at the left, and a mass of material sitting on the slope. The component of gravity that holds the material on the slope is shown as gn. Note that this force is perpendicular to the slope. The force of gravity that pulls material down the slope is shown as gt. Note that this force is parallel to the slope.