SOIL CREEP

 

Slow shift of surface sediments downslope, progressively more movement toward surface.

Freezing or wetting lifts grains perpendicular to the slope face. When thawing or drying occurs, gravity causes the grains to drop back down vertically, placing them slightly further downslope than where they began.

Creep is generally imperceptibly slow.

Some Indicators that creep has occurred include:

  • Tilted poles and curved tree trunks
    (Trees continually grow upward toward sun; if trunk tilts like the inanimate poles, the tree corrects the tilt)

  • Buckling of tiles

  • Stress cracks in pavement

     


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