Mass Wasting
If a rock slides off of a mountain and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Well, I don't know about the noise this activity would create, but I do know that mountains erode and that rocks and debris can slide and fall down mountain slopes in massive amounts. In this lesson, you will learn about a process called mass wasting and the factors that cause this movement of material.
Mass wasting, which is sometimes called mass movement or slope movement, is defined as the large movement of rock, soil and debris downward due to the force of gravity. In other words, the earth's outer crust is being 'wasted' away on a 'massive' scale and falling to lower elevations.
Mass wasting is a type of erosion, and it is capable of making big changes to the side of a mountain. These changes can happen suddenly, as in one minute the rock is there and the next it is gone, or it can happen more slowly over time. You might think of this process as a landslide, and this term is sometimes used interchangeably with mass wasting. However, the term landslide is a bit limiting and does not allow for a description of the many different triggers and types of erosion that can happen on this large of a scale.