In terms of soil mechanics, what is a 'slide' primarily associated with?

A 'slide' in soil mechanics primarily refers to the quick movement of soil layers along a failure surface. This term is often used to describe a specific type of landslide, where cohesive soil or rock material moves rapidly downhill due to gravity, often triggered by factors such as heavy rainfall, seismic activity, or human activities that destabilize the slope.

The mechanics behind a slide involve the balance of forces acting on the soil mass, where the driving forces (such as gravity) overcome the resisting forces (such as friction and cohesion) leading to sudden displacement. This phenomenon is critical to understanding slope stability in geotechnical engineering and environmental geology.

In contrast, points around gradual disintegration of soil or fluid movement describe more stable processes such as erosion or consolidation, rather than the sudden and dynamic nature of a slide, making them less relevant to this particular term in soil mechanics. Block failures in soil, while related to slope stability, refer more specifically to larger, often rigid movements of soil or rock masses, which can sometimes be categorized separately from quick slides.