Geography 202 Final Exam Solution: Slope Stability Analysis

This essay provides an analysis of slope stability, focusing on the processes of erosion and deposition as they reshape landscapes formed by tectonic processes. It discusses the factors influencing these processes, including the role of stress, water, and climatic events. The essay examines erosional and depositional landforms in the context of rivers, glaciers, and coastal environments, aiming to provide a comprehensive understanding of the interplay between these processes and the resulting landforms. The essay covers the effects of stress, water presence, and climatic events on slope stability, and how these factors trigger mass movements. The essay also incorporates the concepts of shear stress and shear strength, and how they are related to the overall stability of the slope. The essay also makes references to the work of Cao, Z., Wang, Y., & Li, D. (2017), and McColl, S. T. (2015) to support the analysis.

Geo Test question 2
Slope Stability.
Question 2
Slope stability is the ability of the slopes covered with soil to withstand and undertake or
undergo movement. Slope stability is determined by the balance that exists between the shear
stress and the shear strength. Stress and strength in slope stability are stated in terms of safety
factors if their quantities are combined over a potential sliding surface (Cao,Wang & Li 2017).
Slope failure or the movement of materials down the hill occurs when the tress exceeds the
strength. There are various factors that determine the strength in the slope stability which include
the pressure, swelling, cracking, increased pore pressure, decomposition of rocky fills that are
made of clay, strain softening, leaching, cyclic loading and weathering. Shear stress can be
increased by additional loads on top of a slope, when water pressure in the cracks found on top
of a slope increases, when soil weight increases due to water presence, seismic effects and when
digging occurs at the bottom of the slope. Trigger mechanism that can lead to slope failure
includes the climatic events which makes the slope resulting to mass movements one example is
rainfall which increases soil weight (McColl 2015). Other triggers include the level of stress,
erosion, temperatures and the slope geometry.

References:
Cao, Z., Wang, Y., & Li, D. (2017). Practical reliability analysis of slope stability by advanced
Monte Carlo simulations in a spreadsheet. In Probabilistic Approaches for Geotechnical Site
Characterization and Slope Stability Analysis (pp. 147-167). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
McColl, S. T. (2015). Landslide causes and triggers. In Landslide Hazards, Risks and Disasters
(pp. 17-42). Academic Press.