Thread: Reshaping the Crust

1) One type of rapid mass movements is called a "slump". I don't understand how a slump is different from a landslide...can somebody explain?

2) waterhed: land from which water runs off into a stream
divide: elevated region that separates two watersheds

These 2 definitions are from my textbook, but I am completely puzzled by them. I don't get what each of them is and I can't picture them as well...

3) How is a "cirque" different from a "hanging valley"? I know that a hanging valley is suspended on the mountain high above the main valley floor, but so does a cirque?! Then, how are they different?? Can someone explain briefly?

Thanks a lot for clarifying

Originally Posted by kingwinner

1) One type of rapid mass movements is called a "slump". I don't understand how a slump is different from a landslide...can somebody explain?

Yes. A landslide is when some material sloughs off of an existing landform, usually in a catastrophic sense. A Slump, on the other hand, is when a landform slowly collapses - like a slowly melting lump of ice cream would.

Originally Posted by kingwinner

2) waterhed: land from which water runs off into a stream
divide: elevated region that separates two watersheds

Ok, a watershed is a network of small streams and small rills in the terrain that catch or guide water into larger and larger channels. A divide is just a landform (a ridge, for example) that physically divides a watershed from another.

Originally Posted by kingwinner

3) How is a "cirque" different from a "hanging valley"? I know that a hanging valley is suspended on the mountain high above the main valley floor, but so does a cirque?! Then, how are they different?? Can someone explain briefly?

A Cirque is simply a landform, such as a ridge or mountain, that has been sculpted by natural forces into a bowl-like, ampitheatre shape. Whereas a Hanging Valley is a valley at some altitude, where there is an abrupt dropoff due to either glacial scouring or seacoast processes.

Hope this helps.