When is mud dangerous?

1. What conditions might cause mud to flow?
The conditions would be that the hill or what ever the mud is sliding down is steep, it has been raining, an earthquake just happened, and maybe there was a volcanic eruption.
2. What conclusion can you draw from the two images?
The steeper the hill the faster the mud will flow or the steeper the hill the more likely there will be a mudflow.

3. List at least two ways you could make the mud slide off the 30° slide plane without changing the plane's angle?

You could make the mud more of a liquid or you could shake the board.

4. What conditions in nature would be represented by the answers you gave for question 3?

The liquid one would be a heavy rain and the shaking one would be an earthquake.

5. List at least two factors that contribute to the formation of mudflows on volcanoes.
When the volcano erupts it shoots out ash and melts snow and ice and the water and ash mix together to make a mudflow. Also the ash is still left on the ground and when it rains the rain causes the ash to make a mudflow.

6. How might forest fires affect an area's potential for experiencing mudflows?

Since the fires leave all this loose ash when it rains it should start a mudflow very easy.

7. Hypothesize about how mudflows could change the topography of an area after a fire.

I think that a mudflow in a area that just had a forest fire wouldn't really do to much because everything standing already got burned, but if it carried far enough to the trees standing, then it would do some damage.

8. What human activities strip soil of its protective vegetation and increase its vulnerability to mudflows?

Some activities that strip soil of its protective vegetation that humans do are farming, cutting down trees, and construction.

9. Write a paragraph describing the conditions that cause dangerous mudflows. Include the types of locations where mudslides are most likely to occur.

Mudflows usually happen because of three reasons and they're volcanoes, earthquakes, and heavy rain. Volcanoes cause mudflows because they build up so much ash that is on its steep slope, so then rain or melted snow can easily make the ash into a mudflow. Earthquakes cause mudflows because they shake the soil and if the soil isn't tightly pack or if it is on a steep slope then it will also cause a mudflow. Heavy rain causes mudflows because the rain mixes with the lose soil or ash that has built up and turns it into a mudflow. Those are the three main reasons for a mudflow.