Mass wasting and Flash Floods in Rio

Rio de janerio is one of the most unique sites in the world.  Most of Rio lies on a geological structure called Brazilian crystal basement. Rio is known for its mountains, hills and valleys caused by tectonic altercations. Since Rio sits atop mountains and hills it is accustom to mass wasting and flash floods.

Like learned in class mass wasting is the down-slope movement of an angular slope. Mass wasting comes in many types like falls, topples, slides, and flows. In the picture below the rock fell from its source at the top because of a steep slope in the mountain and Undercutting.

Many tourists and locals like to rock climb in Rio because of the Joints in the rocks. The joints are cracks in the rocks which can be caused by mass weathering.

Flash Floods

Since Rio is located in the tropical zone it is regularly hit with heavy Rainfall.

The majority of Rio homes are built on slopes and on top one another. Flash floods hit Rio and are devastating to the citizens because of the mass wasting of slopes. The houses are so close together which creates narrow streets and when rain hits it causes a catastrophic event!

 Below is some footage i found showing just how devastating these floods can be.

Pictures and Sources:

http://vortex.accuweather.com/adc2004/pub/includes/columns/newsstory/2012/400x266_01131257_brazil011311.jpg

http://www.travelsinparadise.com/assets/images/articles/Rio-HangGliding/Urca-1.jpg

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0cJTcEU8X71Nk/x610.jpg

http://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0169555X0600345X-gr15.jpg

http://www.v-brazil.com/information/geography/rio-de-janeiro/geography.html

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RGqOeJg4fE

Earths Movement In Rio de Janeiro

Even though Rio is known for its beautiful and extravagant beaches they too are affected by natural disasters. Due to convergence (and subduction) in the earth many areas are impacted by earthquakes, landslides and tsunamis. Rio de Janeiro is subjected to extreme levels of rainfall every year. This can create many problems for the citizens.

Landslide affected area in Rio de Janeiro

In this picture the mountain was hit with floods which caused a landslide. A lot of homes in Rio are built on slopes. The authorities allow these people to build their houses there and when heavy rain hits the landslides come and it can be very tragic. Also since they are built on the slopes the casualties are very high in Rio.

Like I learned in class the lithosphere is cut into a number of tectonic plates. When these plates move it can cause natural disasters like earthquakes. Since Rio de Janeiro holds the 2014 soccer world cup and 2016 Olympics it has been trying to clean up its city however recently an earthquake hit causing a building to collapse.

View of the debris of a collapsed building in Rio de Janeiro. January 25, 2012

Even though the earth leaves tragic events it makes extravagant features as well and due to the earth’s crust and movement many beautiful things form. Here in Rio lays a mountain known as the Sugar Loaf Mountain. It is a huge tourist attraction and allows people to see the beautiful scenery of Rio de Janeiro

Sugar Loaf Mountain 

The Sugarloaf Mountain at 1,296 feet was formed by Mother Nature and can be found on the harbor also known as (Guanabara Bay). The Harbor doesn’t only hold the Sugarloaf Mountain it is surrounded by amazing granite Monolith Mountains as well. As you can see in the picture the mountains are just some beautiful things earth creates and is just one reason why Rio de Janeiro is a huge tourist attraction.

The Harbor view/ Rio de Janeiro

  

Sources :

http://geogy.net/rio-de-janeiro-natural-disasters

http://sevennaturalwonders.org/the-original/harbour-of-rio-de-janeiro/

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/26/rio-building-collapse-leaves-3-dead-16-missing/

Geography Of Rio De Janeiro

Leblon Beach, Rio

My name is Michael Dunlap. I am a Freshman at UC Denver and majoring in Criminal Justice. I have decided to blog about the Capital of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. Rio is the second largest city in Brazil and I have been interested with Rio for some time now and would like to visit in the near future. I first became interested in this beautiful city when i watched the Movie Fast Five. I was taken by the scenery and extravagant beaches. Not only is the landscape breathtaking the culture is also very intriguing to me.

Rio will also hold major sporting events like the 2014 FIFA world cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. I hope to gain much knowledge on this tour of The city Rio!

Images and sources

http://wikitravel.org/en/Rio_de_Janeiro

http://www.rio-de-janeiro.info/picture_library/rio-de-janeiro-beach-leblon-1.jpg

http://www.riomate.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/rio_de-janeiroOlympics-420x315.jpg