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What can happen after rock or soil topples outward from a slope?

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landslide This 1995 landslide at La Conchita, a coastal town in California, swept away a hillside road and destroyed a number of houses.

When a mass of rock, debris, or earth rotates outward from a steep slope face—a process known as toppling—it can subsequently cause the material to fall or slide.1

This movement is one of several types of landslides, which are defined as the downslope movement of earth materials due to gravity when shear stresses exceed the material's shear strength. Depending on the conditions of the slope and the nature of the material, the toppled mass may descend further down the slope through these secondary processes.1