These can occur over much more shallow slopes than falls. The dislocated material mostly stays in contact with the ground surface while moving.

Slides may arise due to:

• A block bounded by joints may be pushed by forces from water in the joints, and the block then slides down intersecting joint-planes or along a steep joint or bedding plane. This action may begin as a slide and develop into a fall.
• Shear surfaces may form within the soil or rock body, with slides occuring along these surfaces. The surfaces will often be similar to a circle arc, but may have a flat bottom. The resulting slides will be rotational, translational or compound
• Mudslides sometimes take place when there is much rainwater present to infiltrate the soil. These are likely to occur as secondary slides, where some form of slide has already taken place. Mudslides are described in "The Stability of Slopes" by E. Bromhead (pg 7) as "slides of debris at a high water content."

---