Soil erosion
Soil erosion is the washing or blowing away (by water or wind) of the top layer of soil (dirt). This is a serious problem for farmers. If the soil has eroded, the crops that make food will not grow very well.
Soil erosion was a big problem in the Midwestern United States in the 1930s dust bowl.
Erosion also leaves large sinkholes in the ground, which can weaken buildings and even cause them to collapse. Urban areas are usually protected from soil erosion, so not many buildings collapse from erosion.
Steps for conserving soil from eroding
Soil erosion can be conserved in several ways:
- A wind break is a line of plants that are planted to stop or slow the wind. A thick row of bushes or shrubs planted next to a field of crops can stop the wind from blowing the soil away. This method also helps against water erosion, as the soil gets caught up against the roots of the bushes, rather than washing away.
- Terraces are level places that have been made on hill sides. They are used for Terrace farming.
- If the crops are growing on a slope, then one should plant them in contour lines that run across the slope, rather than up and down. So, if the slope goes downhill to the south, then the plants should be in rows that run from east to west.
- Groynes (wooden planks) along the beaches can resist erosion, or sea walls against cliffs can protect the cliffs.
Soil Erosion Media
An actively eroding rill on an intensively-farmed field in eastern Germany
soil erosion due to flood
Dobbingstone Burn, Scotland—This photo illustrates two different types of erosion affecting the same place. Valley erosion is occurring due to the flow of the stream, and the boulders and stones (and much of the soil) that are lying on the edges are glacial till that was left behind as ice age glaciers flowed over the terrain.
Árbol de Piedra, a rock formation in the Altiplano, Bolivia, sculpted by wind erosion
Erosional gully in unconsolidated Dead Sea (Israel) sediments along the southwestern shore. This gully was excavated by floods from the Judean Mountains in less than a year.
Tilled farmland such as this is very susceptible to erosion from rainfall, due to the destruction of vegetative cover and the loosening of the soil during plowing.
In this clearcut, almost all of the vegetation has been stripped from the surface of steep slopes, in an area with very heavy rains. Severe erosion occurs in cases such as this, causing stream sedimentation and the loss of nutrient-rich topsoil.
animation showing soil erosion by run-off and the addition of filter soxx to prevent it
