Note on the Movement of Scree-Material
- 1 February 1888
- journal article
- Published by Geological Society of London in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society
- Vol. 44 (1-4) , 232-238
- https://doi.org/10.1144/gsl.jgs.1888.044.01-04.21
Abstract
The slope of screes being, as a rule, not much under the greatest angle at which it is possible for their component material to rest, it follows that a very slight force is in general required to put the surface-stones in motion. This is evident, too, from the number of stones dislodged when a block falls down from above; also from the difficulty experienced by persons in trying to cross them. “Every movement,” says Scoresby, describing the descent of a mountain covered with loose stones in Spitzbergen, “was a work of deliberation. The stones were so sharp that they cut our boots and pained our feet, and so loose that they gave way almost at every step, and frequently threw us backward with force against the hill. We were careful to advance abreast of each other, for any individual being below us would have been in danger of being overwhelmed with the stones, which we unintentionally dislodged in showers”†. The instability of scree-material being so great, the causes of its motion are consequently numerous. Many have at various times been pointed out, more especially in considering the origin of different accumulations of angular débris, such as the limestone-breccias of Gibraltar or the stone-rivers of the Falkland Islands, the main difficulty in these cases being, however, to account for the transport of the material over surfaces inclined at a small angle. References to these well-known discussions are perhaps hardly necessary, it being the object of this paper to call attentionKeywords
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