Ice can have a moderating effect on erosion as it serves to protect the near shore area from the effect of late winter storms and waves. A solid sheet of ice covering the lake or near shore areas of the lake can prevent wind from hitting the surface of the water and can in turn prevent new waves. However, once the ice sheet has broken, this moderating effect is no longer felt. Mass wasting Mass wasting, the downward movement of a large mass of material, is another common erosion phenomenon along the northeastern shore of Ohio. This downward movement has various and sometimes complex causes.
Waves can undercut the foot of a bluff reducing the stability of the material above.
Groundwater can compound this problem by adding weight to the material above and reducing the bluff's resistance to shear. Groundwater seepage out the face of a bluff between different sediment layers acts as a lubricant between layers and further reduces the stability of the bluff. When this occurs the material in an upper layer may slide downward in a mass. Rain saturating a bluff can increase the rate of erosion in a similar fashion by adding weight to the bluff and decreasing the shear resistance of the shore deposit. Rain also produces runoff which can cause surface erosion creating gullies and ravines and steepening bluffs.