Is a landslide mechanical or chemical weathering?
A landslide would be mechanical action, but I don’t know if it would be construed as a weathering process. A landslide occurs when enough water percolates through the soil as to actually fill the micro empty pores of the soil structure to actually suspend the soil slightly and make it somewhat buoyant. Water is almost as heavy as soil, so if the water can be retained in the soil long enough the soil becomes buoyant and soil particles are surrounded by a water envelope. With the assistance of gravity the now buoyant particles with very little friction can slide to the point of lowest potential energy, which is generally at the bottom of a grade.
