Each concept here is mapped to its prerequisites — the ideas you'd need first to understand it — all the way down to four foundations: Space, Time, Energy, Pattern. Click any prerequisite to drill down, or scroll for the chain graph.
As motion and force interact with the unstable mass of ice or snow, the energy released triggers a rapid descent down a mountainside, driven by gravity and external disturbances.
External reference — all senses of the word “avalanche” on Wiktionary. This atlas concept maps to only the slice of meaning relevant to the prerequisite graph.