Soil erosion definition

Soil erosion is one of the ten major soil threats, identified in the accelerated removal of topsoil from the land surface through water, wind and tillage. Soil erosion occurs naturally under all climatic conditions and on all continents, but it is significantly increased and accelerated by unsustainable human activities through intensive agriculture, deforestation, overgrazing and improper land use changes. Soil erosion rates are much higher than soil formation rates, meaning its loss and degradation is not recoverable within a human lifespan. What are the impacts of soil erosion? Soil erosion affects soil health and productivity by removing the highly fertile topsoil and exposing the remaining soil. It decreases agricultural productivity, degrades ecosystem functions, amplifies hydrogeological risk such as landslides or floods, causes significant losses in biodiversity, damage to urban infrastructure and, in severe cases, leads to displacement of human populations. Soil erosion can affect the infiltration, storage and drainage of water in the soil, resulting in waterlogging and water scarcity. Although soil erosion has a direct impact on farmers, it also has effects outside of agriculture. It has implications for our environment and health including on water quality, the energy sector, urban infrastructure, and our landscapes. What can you do? In agriculture, soil erosion can be reduced through the implementation of sustainable management practices such as keeping the soi...

The agents of soil erosion are the same as the agents of all types of erosion: water, wind, ice, or gravity. Running water is the leading cause of soil erosion, because water is abundant and has a lot of power. Wind is also a leading cause of soil erosion because wind can pick up soil and blow it far away. Activities that remove vegetation, disturb the ground, or allow the ground to dry are activities that increase erosion. What are some human activities that increase the likelihood that soil will be eroded? Farming Agriculture is probably the most significant activity that accelerates soil erosion because of the amount of land that is farmed and how much farming practices disturb the ground (Figure 1). Farmers remove native vegetation and then plow the land to plant new seeds. Because most crops grow only in spring and summer, the land lies fallow during the winter. Of course, winter is also the stormy season in many locations, so wind and rain are available to wash soil away. Tractor tires make deep grooves, which are natural pathways for water. Fine soil is blown away by wind. The soil that is most likely to erode is the nutrient-rich topsoil, which degrades the farmland. Grazing Grazing animals (Figure 2) wander over large areas of pasture or natural grasslands eating grasses and shrubs. Grazers expose soil by removing the plant cover for an area. They also churn up the ground with their hooves. If too many animals graze the same land area, the animals’ hooves pull pla...

Open Access is an initiative that aims to make scientific research freely available to all. To date our community has made over 100 million downloads. It’s based on principles of collaboration, unobstructed discovery, and, most importantly, scientific progression. As PhD students, we found it difficult to access the research we needed, so we decided to create a new Open Access publisher that levels the playing field for scientists across the world. How? By making research easy to access, and puts the academic needs of the researchers before the business interests of publishers. We are a community of more than 103,000 authors and editors from 3,291 institutions spanning 160 countries, including Nobel Prize winners and some of the world’s most-cited researchers. Publishing on IntechOpen allows authors to earn citations and find new collaborators, meaning more people see your work not only from your own field of study, but from other related fields too. 1. Introduction Wind and precipitation are the two weather elements prevailing as the generating causes of soil erosion, inducing the so-called wind erosion and water erosion. While erosion by wind is internationally termed wind erosion, erosion caused by water can be found by a variety of definitions, such as water erosion, sheet erosion, surface erosion, rill erosion, interrill erosion, land erosion, and soil erosion. Most frequently, it is referred to as soil erosion and as such will be denoted in the present chapter. Despi...

Sediment is solid material that is moved and deposited in a new location. Sediment can consist of rocks and minerals, as well as the remains of plants and animals. It can be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a boulder. Sediment moves from one place to another through the process of erosion. Erosion is the removal and transportation of rock or soil. Erosion can move sediment through water, ice, or wind. Water can wash sediment, such as gravel or pebbles, down from a creek, into a river, and eventually to that river's delta. Deltas, river banks, and the bottom of waterfalls are common areas where sediment accumulates. Glaciers can freeze sediment and then deposit it elsewhere as the ice carves its way through the landscape or melts. Sediment created and deposited by glaciers is called moraine. Wind can move dirt across a plain in dust storms or sandstorms. Sand dunes are made of rockysediment worn down by wind and collision with other sand particles. Sediment is important because it often enriches the soil with nutrients. Areas rich in sediments are often also rich in biodiversity. Sedimentarysoil is usually better for farming. Deltas and riverbanks, where much sediment is deposited, are often the most fertile agricultural areas in a region. For thousands of years, the Nile River flooded yearly and brought with it 4 million metric tons (4.4 million short tons) of nutrient-rich sediment. The banks of the Nile are still Egypt's richest agricultural land. Sedimentary R...

Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the Human activities have increased by 10–50 times the rate at which erosion is occurring world-wide. Excessive (or accelerated) erosion causes both "on-site" and "off-site" problems. On-site impacts include decreases in Physical processes [ ] Rainfall and surface runoff [ ] splash erosion, sheet erosion, rill erosion, and gully erosion. Splash erosion is generally seen as the first and least severe stage in the soil erosion process, which is followed by sheet erosion, then rill erosion and finally gully erosion (the most severe of the four). In splash erosion, the If Sheet erosion is the transport of loosened soil particles by overland flow. Valley or stream erosion occurs with continued water flow along a linear feature. The erosion is both V cross-section and the stream gradient is relatively steep. When some traction. Bank erosion is the wearing away of the banks of a scour. Erosion and Thermal erosion is the result of melting and weakening Floods [ ] At extremely high flows, Wind erosion [ ] Mass movement is an important part of the erosional process, and is often the first stage in the breakdown and transport of weathered materials in mountainous areas. Surface creep is the slow movement of soil and rock debris by gravity which is usually not perceptible except through extended observation. However, the term can also describe the rolling of dislodged soil particles 0.5 to 1.0mm (0.02 to 0.04in) in diameter by wind alo...

Soil is the earth’s fragile skin that anchors all life on Earth. It is comprised of countless species that create a dynamic and complex ecosystem and is among the most precious resources to humans. Increased demand for agriculture commodities generates incentives to convert forests and grasslands to farm fields and pastures. The transition to agriculture from natural vegetation often cannot hold onto the soil and many of these plants, such as coffee, cotton, palm oil, soybean and wheat, can actually increase soil erosion beyond the soil’s ability to maintain itself. Half of the topsoil on the planet has been lost in the last 150 years. In addition to erosion, soil quality is affected by other aspects of agriculture. These impacts include compaction, loss of soil structure, nutrient degradation, and soil salinity. These are very real and at times severe issues. The effects of soil erosion go beyond the loss of fertile land. It has led to increased pollution and sedimentation in streams and rivers, clogging these waterways and causing declines in fish and other species. And degraded lands are also often less able to hold onto water, which can worsen flooding. Sustainable land use can help to reduce the impacts of agriculture and livestock, preventing soil degradation and erosion and the loss of valuable land to desertification. The health of soil is a primary concern to farmers and the global community whose livelihoods depend on well managed agriculture that starts with the...