1. Erosion- A Powerful Force

2. Agents of Erosion
Four forces can move sediments from one place to another. They are called the agents of erosion. They are wind, running water, glaciers and gravity.

3. Energy of Motion
Water, ice and gravity will have more of an effect on steep slopes because the material generates more speed and creates more force. Wind will create more force when the velocity increases too.

4. Deposition
Deposition is the dropping of sediments due to the reduction in the energy of motion. The slope of a hill may be reduced or the wind blocked by an obstacle.

5. Mass movements
Mass movements are methods by which gravity pulls materials down hill. They include slump, creep, rockslides and mudflows.

6. Slump
Slump forms when a slope is undercut and the earth material slides downward as a large block. It make a C shaped scar on the side hill.

7. Slump 2
Slump may occur in slopes that are cut too vertical.

8. Slump 3
Slump occurs on the outside bend of a river when the river erodes the soil beneath the surface.

9. Slump 4
Another picture of slump on a steep hill.

10. Creep
Creep is the slow down hill movement of soil. It can cause roads, railroads and other things to bend downhill

11. Rockslide
Rockslides can cause tremendous damage to roads and homes. They can be caused by cutting a slope too vertical or may triggered by earthquakes.

12. Rockslides 2
Use a little common sense when building in mountainous regions.

13. Mudflows
Mudflows result when the ground becomes saturated with water and flows down slope. They may occur in desert regions during a downpour, during a volcanic eruption or during prolonged rainfall.

14. Mudflow 2

15. Running water
Running or moving water is the agent of erosion that moves the most material today. Water can erode at the edge of a body of water, in rivers or when it just flows over the land.

19. Sheet erosion
Example of sheet erosion where water flows over a broad area. The stream in the middle is an example of rill erosion where the water follows a pathway.

20. Gully erosion
Example of gully erosion where water flows in one pathway. Due to the large volume, the water creates more force to move the sediments down stream.