I agree. The hills are made of dried mud and when enough rain gets to the innards, they slide. It's not just the surface, it's the whole damn hill that "melts" away. At best ground vegetation creates a thin surface skin on the top of these mud piles that resists light rain erosion but when you get enough water into the mix it's "there she blows!"
The problem with your theory is it helps a bit but does not/can not stop the slides. Vegetation can stabilize the top1 to 5 feet over a period of 5 to 100 years. It takes a LONG time to get the roots down over a foot. The bigger problem is there is virtually NO bedrock in those hills. They are essentially "silt dunes", sitting on a slanted table. When they get saturated to below the root web they just turn to soup and start to ooze. Eventually the ooze turns into a full-scale slip and the relatively stable root-web turns into a "magic carpet" and slides down the hill, taking everyting in it, on it, and in front of it, along for the ride towards the Pacific.
You are right in that generally the regrowth comes from the root system remaining below the ground after the fire, along with seeds released by the heat of the fire (certain pines, and I believe redwoods, cannot reseed without fire). The biggest problem in California is people are building homes where no person in their right mind would consider building anything due to the instability of the geological formations underlying the whole area. Matthew 7:24-27 repeats what was even back then considered to be solid well-known knowledge:
On Sat, 13 Dec 2014 16:22:07 +0000 (UTC), "Danny D." wrote in
Please do post them. This is interesting to someone who lives in the rural southeast.
Dems in DE robbed the transportation fund to balance the budget. Then, the Dem governor asked for a 10 cent a gallon increase to get money for transportation. Did not get it. Even Dems are not all dumb enough to have not seen through this.
It is called "mass wasting". And you are correct.
It is oh so much worse when you interrupt the natural fire cycle.
Yes, kudzu can become a nuisance. Yet, planting would go a long way towards stabilizing the land. If the residents took to keeping goats as pets that might slow down the kudzu from taking over the world. Besides kudzu can be used as a food and fiber source for human use.
Danny D. wrote, on Sat, 13 Dec 2014 00:57:18 +0000:
Here's are a few references for the mountains in NJ/NY/PA being
*taller* than the Himalayas, if anyone cares:The highest point in all of NJ is now about 1,800 feet, so erosion took off miles of height (which is why the continental shelf pile of mud is so large, even 60 miles out from the east coast of the United States).
Think about it this way. a) Asia is huge, India is pretty big. b) When they crash, you get big mountains.
A) North America is huge, Africa is huge. B) When they crash, you get even bigger mountains.
It's my understanding that the driving record of Arizona (which used to be nearer to the edge of the continent) is as bad as that of the east coast.
Erosion occurs without man's intervention, where *miles* of sediments are washed down the mountains into the oceans or onto the desert plains.
If man puts a house on top of a cliff, that house is doomed, just as much as every lake every dammed is doomed to silt up unless dredged constantly.
CRNG wrote, on Sat, 13 Dec 2014 12:56:19 -0600:
I had forgotten about this request, so, to update you, here is a (very) small mudslide on the side of the road (which is common):
These slides are countless, all along the roadsides, after every rainfall:
The road crews drive up and down all day, clearing them up. Here is a representative picture of what I mean when I say the entire mountain is just a 3,000 foot tall hill of mud, with a road carved out on top, and houses dotting the sides ...
On Wed, 17 Dec 2014 18:23:35 +0000 (UTC), "Danny D." wrote in
Very interesting. Thanks.
Oren wrote, on Wed, 17 Dec 2014 23:33:10 -0800:
Hi Oren, I agree. These metal and concrete "screens" are all over the place. But mainly on the major roads.
These "side" roads have 10 to 40 foot tall "walls of mud" on the uphill side, and it would cost far more than anyone is willing to pay to put the screens everywhere.
So, we just deal with the mudslides. Every single time it rains. Or even when it doesn't rain.
My main point was that, when you put a house on a hill that is essentially 3,000 feet of mud, there is nothing man is going to do to prevent landslides.
Fire or not. Landscaping or not. There will be landslides. Entire towns are built on landslides out here. It's part of the topography.
Danny D. wrote, on Thu, 18 Dec 2014 11:27:34 +0000:
For example, what's the chance of saving this tree right at the edge of a bend in the road on this mountain of mud?
That picture was taken from my car as I was driving, where the road curves to the right just under that tree.
Everything here on the mountain is destined to be washed into the San Francisco Bay, over time. It's natural. Fire or not. Landscaping or not. Re-vegetation or not.
Bingo!
CA is destined to burn/drought/rain/flood, over and over again. That's its natural state. That our species thinks it can control these forces w/o consequence will eventually lead to our demise.
nb
Except in the east there is some rock in the mix. In California it is just pure MUD - so even the screan doesn't help much.
Not a snowballs chance in -- southern California.
clare wrote, on Thu, 18 Dec 2014 12:40:06 -0500:
In a funny way, that's not actually true.
Remember, the Salinian Block is actually a huge piece of rock which has moved about 300 or so miles, from around Los Angeles, up along the coast, toward northern California (and it's still on its journey to the Aleutians), at a rate of about two inches per year along the San Andreas Fault.
So, it can happen. But it will be a few hundred million years when/if it does... :)
And you think that tree will survive until then?? Like I said - not a snowball's chance -----
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