Landslides and Erosion
CAUTION: The Slopes' Dangerous Restoration
Highly Contradictory Effects from Water
Sudden influxes of water, most often caused by human interference, can destabilize and damage the vacuum-anchoring suction effect in mountainous landscapes. This phenomenon, driven by human mismanagement, results in the accumulation of gravitational water pressure within the soil layers of hillsides over time, creating a dangerous, floating, and lubricating mass that exerts a driving force toward the settlements, a devastating threat of landslides and lahars. Furthermore, a previous reduction in trees removes root reinforcement, making the slopes fragile due to the loss of root strength, and creates an additional hazard due to water lubrication that ultimately saturates the ground. Furthermore, the root systems of indigenous vegetation help mitigate the potentially harmful effects of water on degraded land by reducing the lubrication of the slopes' clay layers, thereby reducing the risk of landslides. Thus, native vegetation and tree roots also prevent water forces from accelerating and generating devastating torrential flows that tear up the ground beneath buildings and penetrate deeply into the riverbanks of settlements.
A complex and challenging problem can often require simple examples that appear adequately illustrated. To claim, for instance, that a soil mass on the mountainside weighing down with water can both be stabilising on a steep slope and, at the same time, fatally dangerous under other circumstances seems to invite misunderstandings that can be extremely serious.
Therefore, if a smaller shipping container:
- 1. is placed on a steep mountain slope and weighed down by a certain mass of soil; while attempts to push it further down the hill, its downward motion is limited and most often to only a few centimetres with great effort.
- 2. Conversely, if the container is emptied of all its soil, the situation changes dramatically, indicating that the container can now slide down the mountain slope more easily.
- 3. It is now relatively easy to imagine that a container with soil will be even more difficult to push when weighed down by water on the top of its already heavy soil load.
- 4. Then, both soil and saturated with top water pressure, this container is given a drastic treatment: its bottom section becomes pierced with continuous perforating holes, and it is then again placed on the steep rock slope.
- 5. When this perforated container, with its soil and top water pressure, is placed on the same mountain slope as the previous containers, it becomes evident that a highly slippery, muddy slurry (Soil liquefaction) immediately exudes with a positive overpressure, thus the opposite of vacuum suction. This lubrication of mud and soil liquefaction under positive overpressure between the container and the mountain slope constitutes, then, a slightly advancing experiment on the classic sliding grease bed, historically used to launch larger ships.
- 6. To visualize a vacuum suction between the bedrock and the small shipping container, imagine a machine-driven vacuum suction heavy-duty rubber bell being air-tightly closed over the upper section of the shipping container. The powerful, machine-driven vacuum-suction rubber bell is firmly attached, and the suction pressure then increases in the upper section of the small shipping container. This overlying vacuum pressure then propagates downward through the container and finally reaches the bedrock below it. Depending on the strength and air-tightness of the vacuum suction technology and the toughness of the clay mass surrounding the shipping container on the bedrock, an adhesive vacuum suction may appear unavoidable. In many ways, the image described here provides insight into the deep and extensive roots of the endemic trees' ability to draw water and create a local vacuum suction toward their contact with the bedrock.
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| The vacuum-anchoring suction effect results from the gravity pressure built up over time in the layers of the hillside, where the evolution is a candidate for suspecting large trees as essential for gravity anchoring suction on the mountainside. Water and Land Restoration |
Landscape Restoration
Thus, from Nature's ancient past, the mechanical compression of moraine and clay towards the mountainside provided Nature with the required strength for an evolutionary and mechanical suction base, facilitating the continued prehistoric build-up of the ancient soil layer. Reproducing Nature's prehistoric and evolutionary reinforcement of a barren, eroded slope by using shallowly planted, fragile indigenous saplings certainly poses a hazard to settlements beneath them. Usually, decades before any reinforcements from the root reinforcement of planned saplings arrive. In contrast, the use of technology, such as gabions with cliff anchors, offers a safer means of preventing dangerous landslides while also providing an essential base for the growth of endemic saplings. As an intervention that artificially rebuilds millions of years of accumulated ground stability in concert with soil layers and the evolution of organisms, it often seems impossible to recreate a lost ancient ground within a single generation.
Nature Restoration with Modern Technology
However, some modern technologies, such as gabion baskets and mountain anchors, can frequently replace lost ancient stabilizing sediments and the crucial reinforcing strength of lost ancient tree roots. Gabion technology and rock anchors are current techniques that can enhance safety for settlements by providing new stable ground for plant growth on slopes. By backfilling and imitating ancient sediments, supported by gabions and rock anchors, the growth of Nature's basics may provide sufficient time for a landscape damaged by human hazards such as landslides and prehistoric erosion to heal.
The Importance of Domestic Trees
Reinforcement of Native Roots Against Erosion
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| The composite image series above invites a more comprehensive study with explanatory images of the water's flow and ground infiltration. The Torrential Rains and Erosion |
Erosion: The soil-holding capacity of Eucalyptus is relatively moderate compared to the original Ethiopian ground cover and trees, which initially covered the slopes of Entoto. Because there is no ground cover in the foreign-implanted Eucalyptus forest, the only thing to hold the soil is the sporadic web of roots of the trees. This lack of soil-stabilizing undergrowth causes severe erosion, as evidenced by the water that runs through Addis during the rainy seasons. During each rainfall event, torrential forces erode valuable nutrients, and the layer of fertile soil becomes thinner. Without due care and preservation within a few years, no fertile ground will remain for new vegetation, and the erosion will be irreversible.
Flooding: On Entoto, every leaf and branch that has fallen to the ground is collected by people, whereas in a natural forest with endemic vegetation, organic material from leaves, wood, roots, etc., is left to be decomposed in the soil. The organic compost from endemic vegetation improves soil structure, leading to higher infiltration rates and greater water storage capacity, and, of course, provides the fragile saplings with a primary foundation for growth. The picture on the right simplifies the connection between land and water, which can be seen by the vertical connection in the study of the infiltrating movements of the water in pictures (5 ) and (7).
Restoring Nature with Concealed Technology
Where, for example, erosion has ravaged deep into soil layers and moraine, restoring the natural habitat of a steep slope is directly inappropriate, as it attempts to instantly replicate Nature's unique habitat by using highly hazardous methods of corrupt undercurrents within today's business, since it would pose an imminent risk for villages located below such hazardous restoration attempts. Recreating what Nat re has done over millions of years may require more civil engineering measures, such as gabions anchored in the underlying rock, retaining walls, and terracing, where wildlife and humans coexist in close proximity to the immediate needs of civilization. These anchored gabions can provide an underground stabilizing foundation against landslides and further erosion while simultaneously enabling the reconstruction of soil layers required for native vegetation. Thus, these undergr und anchored gabions in the landscape represent a possible replacement in terms of reliability and strength, aiming to recreate the original landscape and Nature.
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| The Environment, Culture and Prosperity |
The Importance of Indigenous Trees
Ethiopia's Prehistory of Natural Wealth
The native Ethiopian vegetation served as a highly effective physical barrier, blocking the country's water masses from rushing down its slopes toward Egypt. From Nature's ground, a picture of the soil's water-absorbing structure and root configurations emerges. Thus, along with the strength of the intricate network of endemic vegetation and the native undergrowth, the seasonal deluges had sophisticated water-holding capacity in Ethiopia's thick soil layers.
Therefore, after the downpours, with their root reinforcement, the deep soil layers and ground moraine delivered purified water into the terrain's deep aquifers as groundwater. Hence, this original vegetation functioned as numerous efficient water collectors, with an intricate network of stems and deeply anchored roots, thereby stabilizing the soil and providing substantial resistance to erosion.
Nature's Precious Cradle of Noble Life
The History of the Environment
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The Prehistoric Legacy of Water and Plants
The prosperity of civilizations across cultures and regions of the World indicates a clear connection between in-depth knowledge of biology and a culture's potential for development. Undoubtedly, this role is considered healthy in this context and in other sciences as well. Still, it is particularly evident in biology, as it is so closely related to human health and well-being. However, the insidious hierarchical governing terror of the past caused severe scares among many nations, inflicting humiliation in severe starvation and fearful aversions, thus damaging the population's most critical needs for safety.
Ethiopia's Indigenous Vegetation
A Heritage with Tremendous Potential
The native vegetation, in the past, served as a natural barrier that prevented the precious water from being wasted by violent torrents. This seasonal water flow over the Ethiopian Highlands then historically, and even more prehistorically, infiltrated the deluges into soil permeability and vertically delivered this mass of purified water to be stored as natural groundwater within ancient aquifers. Hence, the fabric of these original vegetation's roots and soil functioned as numerous efficient conduits for deluges, directing them into Ethiopia's deep soil layers and the country's mountain massifs' aquifers, thereby preventing groundwater shortages during prolonged droughts.
The Healing Nature of the Native Forest
Restoration With Original Trees and Plants
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| Benefits from the Establishment of the Park |
Indigenous Trees: A Legacy Of National Importance
The natural health and fertile beauty in this indigenous Juniper forest illuminate with precision the healing ability of a native forest and the severe Nature and habitat destruction that occurred with the introduction of the Eucalyptus tree. Due to these shortcomings in the Eucalyptus plantation's water-retention capacity, it cannot counterbalance the uneven distribution of rainfall. Therefore, this eucalyptus poisoning of the ground creates a devastating water-repelling fabric in the upper soil layer, all too often followed by torrential flash floods and flooding in the downslope areas.
The Healing Capacity of Indigenous Forests
A Historical Legacy Of Environmental Importance
The natural health and fertile beauty of this indigenous Juniper forest illuminate, with precision, the healing capacity of a native forest and the severe Nature and habitat destruction that occurred with the introduction of the Eucalyptus tree. Due to these shortcomings in the Eucalyptus plantation's water-retention capacity, it cannot counterbalance the uneven distribution of rainfall. This eucalyptus poisoning of the ground creates a devastating water-rejecting fabric, yet hazardously brittle and prone to the sudden collapse of the upper soil layer, all too often followed by disasters and torrential flooding in the down-slope areas, in this case, a seasonal risk for the northern district of Addis Ababa.
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| The Indigenous Podocarpus falcatus |
The Highland's Clean Air & Clean Water
Sanctuaries and Museums, and StudiesThe experience of Ethiopia's original, naturally fertile beauty near Addis Ababa, with fashionable facilities and historically significant Sanctuaries and museums, will attract many people every season. Schoolchildren will be actively using the Park for environmental education purposes (or to find a peaceful spot to do homework. Restaurants and amenities at Entoto Kidane Mehret (1), Entoto Maryam (43), Entoto Park (Z)
A Source of Health for the Capital
A Natural Park for Weekends and Tourism
Tourists (mainly international) will enjoy views of Addis, a visit to a restaurant on a hot afternoon, and the calm of the juniper forest. Regular citizens of the Capital will mainly come on weekends. Still, visiting parks in Addis Ababa is a cultural habit, so visitors are expected to be high on Saturdays and Sundays. (Håkan Blanck and a Englund, Entoto Natural Park 1995). Accommodation and Other Services
A Natural Park for Weekends and Tourism
Tourists (mainly international) will enjoy views of Addis, a visit to a restaurant on a hot afternoon, and the calm of the juniper forest. Regular citizens of the Capital will mainly come on weekends. Still, visiting parks in Addis Ababa is a cultural habit, so visitors are expected to be high on Saturdays and Sundays. (Håkan Blanck and a Englund, Entoto Natural Park 1995). Accommodation and Other Services
Historical Background: [Foreign Chemical]
This chemical component in the foreign Australian Eucalyptus tree causes severe erosion, as evidenced by the water running through Addis during the rainy seasons. Regretably, for every rain period, the layer of fertile soil gets thinner. However, with the introduction of the Park in 1995, Ethiopia's obvious duty led to a genuine commitment, as the revival of a historical Nature found the country's true cradle by restoring a landscape capable of creating healthy freshwater, reflecting a nation's natural character.
Erosion: Caused by this Eucalyptus tree's chemical, the only thing to hold the soil was the sporadic roots of the trees. With erosion caused by the Eucalyptus trees, the reintroduction of indigenous trees reached a critical point. Videos: Soil Erosion Demo
𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐶𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑦
The historical records reveal several practical and aesthetic possibilities for restoration. These options for an aesthetic restoration include water management, ground stability, and the most attractive recreation paths. Another way to describe these methods for natural conservation is the effectiveness of the irrigation method when combined with gentle, scenic hiking trails above precipices. Through these micro canals' associated need for strength and reliability, this need for reinforced waterways coincides with the suitability of dramatically beautiful and safe hiking trails where the steep slopes above or beneath these paths deliver an extraordinary beauty over grand views of often impossible precipices. 📸: From Wikimedia Commons, Fasilides Bath, Gondar, Ethiopia.
CAUTION: The Slopes' Restoration
Sudden influxes of water in the mountains can cause instability and damage to the vacuum-anchoring suction effect, which results from the gravity pressure that accumulates over time in the hillside layers, further driven by the vacuum suction of large indigenous trees' roots into deep soil layers. Furthermore, historical mismanagement, including severe deforestation and reduced tree cover, removes root reinforcement, which increases over time, making the slopes hazardous and more susceptible to erosion and failure due to reduced root strength and increased water lubrication (soil liquefaction). Furthermore, the stability of native vegetation and tree roots also prevents water forces from accelerating and producing devastating torrential flows, in which water masses erode the ground beneath buildings and penetrate deeply into the riverbanks of settlements.
Over millions of years, a mountainside subjected to severe environmental stresses yields a moraine with soil layers and vegetation that are highly resilient and often evolutionarily optimized to survive the specific environmental conditions of varying rainfall, drought, landslides, or lahars. After these lengthy trials over aeons of Nature's trial and error, what remains is a highly optimized habitat, and therefore very difficult to surpass. These are insurmountable circumstances, and attempting to replicate an ancient ground and Nature's risks an overwhelming safety concern, ns and most likely results in frustrating failure when restoring a steep hillside. If human civilizations are to overcome these difficulties, a great effort of human resources and technological stabilization measures is often required, such as gabion baskets and mountain anchors.
Restoring a severely eroded landscape through the reintroduction of native vegetation can be a complex process. Because soil layers formed over millions of years have lost their original strength, the tremendous stability provided by the tree roots and compact sediment has often disappeared. It is, therefore, a colossal project to remedy these prehistorically formed soil layers, which have been tested by aeons of Nature's hardship during ages of severe rainstorms, flash floods, or drought, and thus evolved to opoptimizeheir environment, along with the natural environment of the underlying mountain slope. Therefore, when considering a natural mountain slope in terms of health, the conclusion follows with a significant probability that the most resistant soil layers remain; however, the caveat is that they only exist due to the vegetation's roots, assisted by vacuum pressure and organisms that created their own rock gripping anchor points underneath their soil layers. Thus, since prehistoric times, trees' roots have provided mountain slopes with a robust, reinforcing biological structure whose strength and toughness can surpass that of much of everyday infrastructure.
Pinterest: Planting Saplings
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