The Transport Mechanism in Catastrophic Rock Falls

Catastrophic rock falls differ from normal screes in that they tend to spread as a thin sheet over considerable areas of country, the distribution of the debris bearing little relationship to the topography of the low ground over which it is spread. Consideration of ancient and modern examples suggests that the mechanism must involve fluidization with entrapped air, which permits high speed of movement of the fall as a flood of unsorted rock fragments over irregular ground and obstacles.