Sturzstrom

It travels a great horizontal distance (as much as 20 or 30 times), compared to its initial vertical drop.

[2][3] They have been found on other bodies in the Solar System, including the Moon, Mars, Venus, Io, Callisto, Iapetus,[4][5] and Phobos.

Sturzstroms may be triggered, similarly to other types of landslides, by heavy rains, earthquakes, or volcanic activity.

Observation of slides on Iapetus suggests that tiny contact points between bits of ice debris may heat up considerably during the movement, causing melting and forming a more fluid – and thus less friction-limited – mass of material.

This has been hypothesized to be volcanic in origin or the result of a meteorite impact, but the leading hypothesis is that it was due to the large amount of internal friction.

The Mount St. Helens landslide was a sturzstrom. [ citation needed ] The slide took place on the north face, and created the valley-like gap seen here.
A satellite image of the Köfels landslide showing the debris which flowed into the Ötztal valley. It is estimated that around 3 km 3 of material were displaced during this slide about 9800 ± 100 years ago. [ 6 ] [ 7 ]
Köfelsite (impactite or frictionite), Köfels Structure, Austria. The sample is 4.1 cm (1.6 in) wide.