Mechanisms of Disintegration

Before being released, a mass may have assumed any possible state of coherence ranging from one single giant block to a heap of comparatively small particles. By contrast, in coming to a rest after displacement, the same mass is, as a rule, substantially more disintegrated. So disintegration obviously takes place in the course of the downhill ride. As, on the one hand, the discussion of pre-event disintegration does not fit into the frame of the present book, while, on the other hand, the degree of coherence (or of disintegration, if looking at things from the other end) can substantially influence the mechanisms of displacement, disintegration might with good reason be attributed to Chap. 5 where these mechanisms are treated. However, there is no doubt that the conversion of a more or less coherent large block into debris marks an important caesura in the descent of a rocky mass so that it cannot be insignificant where the process of disintegration is initiated, how it develops in the course of motion, and what are its consequences. Thus it is equally justified to reserve a short chapter of its own right to the questions of disintegration. In deciding to act according to this line of thought, two further facts were borne in mind: even so Chap. 5 remains one of the most extended, and — a more substantial argument — in the sections to follow it will be demonstrated that the fundamental differences in reach between coherent and disintegrated motion are not as dramatic as could be assumed at first sight. Continuity between the questions of disintegration and displacement will be established in the first section of Chap. 5 which will deal with the influence of disintegration upon displacement.