On March 22, 2016, in Austin, a large garage-sized boulder broke free from a hillside and fell to the base of the hill, crushing two vehicles and crashing into a house.
We have to take a detour in our walk along the field by the river because there is a thick, sticky layer of mud and debris on top of the grasses and wildflowers.
The flash flood is caused by heavy rain. Once saturated with water, a large section of the mountainside slides down into the reservoir, causing the dam to break and the water to rush downstream.
On April 1, 2010, in Mineral Wells, a large garage-sized boulder broke free from a hillside. Before the boulder falls, what process is happening in the hillside around the boulder?
The driveway is long and winding because it bends around a huge old oak tree. The pavement near the tree bulges upward and has many more cracks than the other sections of the driveway.
There is a long meter-deep scar in the soil where a section of the riverbank has slipped downward into the river.
The layers of rock are very obvious in the majestic arches and formations at Palo Duro Canyon.
Where the river makes a sharp bend to the right, there is a beautiful sandbar. We sometimes can find fossil turtle shells partially buried in this sand.
Walking in the shallow coastal waters, you can feel the rows of bumps in the sand from the rippling wave action of the ocean.
It is fun to wade in the shallow areas of the river; the smooth rocks are rounded and sometimes slippery.
When it rains, the water flows across our pasture into this sunken area. We think that there is a cave under our pasture.
The homeowner had clearly worked hard to hold the steep hillside in place by constructing a stone wall, but now sections of the wall and soil have tumbled onto the sidewalk.
The soil is rich and dark; however, on closer inspection, you can still identify small grains of quartz and feldspar from the granite bedrock.
The area is mostly underlain by sedimentary rocks, but there are a few small volcanic cinder cones and some ancient buried volcanic lava flows. The soil that developed over these volcanic rocks is richer in potassium. You can identify these areas because the wild iris plants like the potassium-rich soil and only grow in that area.
When camping in west Texas, we wake one morning to discover that our car and tent are covered with a thin layer of sand.
When we walk along the seashore, we look for shark teeth in the sand. Sometimes we also find unbroken sand dollars, too.
We love to go rock climbing on the rugged cliffs in the mountains, but our first challenge is to scramble up the large pile of sand and pebbles at the base of the cliff.
Years ago, the rancher dug out an area to build a pond for his cattle, but over time the pond filled with sediment so now there is very little room for the water.
A beautiful display of bluebonnets bloomed along the bank of the river, but after the storm last night, the flowers and a large section of the soil in which they grew is gone.
Which of the following will most likely increase the amount of erosion that occurs on the banks of a river?
The Gulf Prairies and Marshes ecoregion experiences significant soil erosion. One would expect the climate in this region to be –
The Blackland Prairie ecoregion of Texas has many exposed boulders that are smooth and rounded. What feature of this area caused the boulders to take on these characteristics?
The tall rock formations with smooth surfaces in Big Bend National Park were formed over time by –
Weathering of Earth’s surface can have which of the following effects?
Sediments, which are deposited at the mouth of a river, create a –
