Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 1, 2025

Soil Lysimeter Excavation for Coupled Hydrological, Geochemical, and Microbiological Investigations
Published on: September 11, 2016
The perpetual fragility of creeping hillslopes
Nakul S Deshpande1, David J Furbish2,3, Paulo E Arratia1,2
1Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Abstract:
Soil creeps imperceptibly but relentlessly downhill, shaping landscapes and the human and ecological communities that live within them. What causes this granular material to 'flow' at angles well below repose? The unchallenged dogma is churning of soil by (bio)physical disturbances. Here we experimentally render slow creep dynamics down to micron scale, in a laboratory hillslope where disturbances can be tuned. Surprisingly, we find that even an undisturbed sandpile creeps indefinitely, with rates and styles comparable to natural hillslopes. Creep progressively slows as the initially fragile pile relaxes into a lower energy state. This slowing can be enhanced or reversed with different imposed disturbances. Our observations suggest a new model for soil as a creeping glass, wherein environmental disturbances maintain soil in a perpetually fragile state.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Design Example: Maintaining Level of an Embankment
Effects of Creep
Creep in Concrete
Factors Affecting Creep
Further, the water/cement ratio is critical, as a lower ratio increases concrete strength, thus reducing creep. The strength of the...
Stability of structures
Fatigue

