What is mass wasting?

Mass wasting, also known as
slope movement or mass
movement, is the href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomorphology">geomorphic process by
which soil,
sand, title="Regolith" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regolith">regolith, and
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_(geology)">rock move downslope
typicaly as a mass, largely under the force of href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity">gravity, but frequently
affected by water and water content as in submarine environments and title="Mudslide"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudslide">mudslides. href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_wasting#cite_note-1">[1] Types of
mass wasting include creep, slides, flows, topples, and falls, each with its own
characteristic features, and taking place over timescales from seconds to years. Mass
wasting occurs on both terrestrial and submarine slopes, and has been observed on title="Earth" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth">Earth, title="Mars" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars">Mars, title="Venus" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus">Venus, and
Jupiter's moon href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_(moon)">Io.