1. Slow downslope movement of the regolith over hillslopes, due to gravity. The necessary disturbance of the regolith may be due to freezing and thawing; to expansion and contraction (resulting from temperature change or from wetting and drying); to additional weight and lubrication by water; or to the activities of burrowing animals.
3. The behaviour of minerals under low differential stress over long periods of time. Typically there is an initial stage of transient creep (primary creep) with viscoelastic strains, which changes progressively to a state of purely viscous strain, until the mineral ruptures in a final (tertiary) stage of creep.