Soil Erosion Essay

Introduction

Soil erosion is one form of soil degradation along with soil compaction, low organic matter, loss of soil structure, poor internal drainage, salinisation, and soil acidity problems. These other forms of soil degradation, serious in themselves, usually contribute to accelerated soil erosion.

Soil erosion is a naturally occurring process on all land. The agents of soil erosion are water and wind, each contributing a significant amount of soil loss each year in Ontario.

Soil erosion may be a slow process that continues relatively unnoticed, or it may occur at an alarming rate causing serious loss of topsoil. The loss of soil from farmland may be reflected in reduced crop production potential, lower surface water quality...show more content... Plant and residue cover protects the soil from raindrop impact and splash, tends to slow down the movement of surface runoff and allows excess surface water to infiltrate.

The erosion–reducing effectiveness of plant and/or residue covers depends on the type, extent and quantity of cover. Vegetation and residue combinations that completely cover the soil, and which intercept all falling raindrops at and close to the surface and the most efficient in controlling soil (e.g. forests, permanent grasses ). Partially incorporated residues and residual roots are also important as these provide channels that allow surface water to move into the soil.

The effectiveness of any crop, management system or protective cover also depends on how much protection is available at various periods during the year, relative to the amount of erosive rainfall that falls during these periods. In this respect, crops which provide a food, protective cover for a major portion of the year (for example, alfalfa or winter cover crops) can reduce erosion much more than can crops which leave the soil bare for a longer period of time (e.g. row crops) and particularly during periods of high erosive rainfall (spring and summer). However, most of the erosion on annual row crop land can be reduced by leaving a residue cover greater than 30% after harvest and over the winter months, or by inter–seeding a forage crop (e.g. red

Science Fair Background Of Erosion Essay

Science Fair Background Research

The research below is about erosion. The purpose of this research is to perform an experiment involving erosion. Erosion happens when earth is worn away, often because of ice, wind, or water. The way erosion happens is "fluid flow" and that is when water, air, and ice flow from point A to point B because of gravity. Weathering is also similar toerosion, but instead of wearing away earth, it is wearing away rock. Weathering is so strong, no rock is hard enough to protect itself from weathering. The process of erosion moves rock and earth from one place to another. Normally when erosion is in the form of ice that ice is a glacier.

If water is muddy, it is a sign of erosion. It means bits of rock orsoil are in the water and are being transported. This material that is being transported is sediment. If wind or water slows down, or if glaciers or ice is melted, the sediment will be dropped off at a new location. As more and more sediment gets deposited, it starts to...show more content...

This will start to happen all over the world. This also will affect animals and buildings on the shore. Another thing that can cause erosion are animals, gravity, and floods. Animals help destroy the dirt into smaller pieces making it easier for the wind to push it away. The gravity can pull rocks and dirt down a cliff or mountain. Floods come through the city or town and act like a huge tidal wave and push everything away. There could also be chemical and mechanical processes. Mechanical weathering actually breaks the rock, when the cracks form the water can get into the rock and break it more. Chemical weathering will only decay the rock overtime and is not as fast. Erosion can help in a few ways, but generally, it is very negative. Moved soil can be great for planting crops. A negative is that eventually erosion will erode some of Earth's greatest natural

Get more content

University of Phoenix Material

Soil and Glaciers Worksheet

From Visualizing Earth Science, by Merali, Z., and Skinner, B. J, 2009, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Copyright 2009 by Wiley. Adapted with permission.

Part 1

Size grades of soil are named sand, silt, and clay, which includes colloids. Size grades are defined using the metric system. Use Figure 4.8 from the textbook to fill in the following chart. Specify the type and size and description of the particle. In some cases, particle size will be less than some value or greater than another value. For instance, gravel is greater than 2.0 mm.

|Name |Size |Description |...show more content...

Describe why these factors are important in the formation of soil.

|Soil forming factor |Importance in soil formation |

|Parent material |Direct impact soil chemisty and fertility rich in solube ions– calcium, magnesium potassium| | |and sodium. |

|Climate |Precioitation, temperature. Warmer temperature speed up the formation of soil. Cooler |

| |temperature less precipitation slow down soil formation. |

|Living organisms |Plants animals and micro organism all affect soil formation by producing or contributing to|

| |humus production. |

|Topography |water to soak into the regolith |

| |important topographic variable connected with soil is the slope of the land surface |

Iowa became a state in 1846 and by 1860 almost the entire state was settled and farmed by Euro–Americans. The settling led to the devastation of prairie in Iowa. The beautiful lush grasses, forbes, and sedges were being cultivated and planted with crops along with severe overgrazing and much more. Prairie is a habitat type that gets a lot of focus in Iowa today. It gets so much focus because it is such a huge part of Iowa's ecological history. "Before the advent of white man, prairie covered approximately 84 percent of the area of Iowa". (Aikman, 1959) "Tallgrass prairie is one of the most endangered ecosystems in North America (Sampson and Knoppf, 1996), with less less than one percent of its original extent remaining." (Rowe, Fargione, Holland,...show more content...

The Conservation Reserve Program or CRP is a great way to conserve soil not just in Iowa, but all around the nation. Referring to farmers around the nation taking land out of production and putting it into CRP: "As a result of these sweeping changes in the landscape, soil erosion in the United States has decreased by about 648 million tons a year, dwindling bird populations have more safe areas for their nests, and less carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere, government and university studies show" (Adler, 1996) Although, the amount of CRP and Prairie is nothing compared to what it used to be, we have started to make a dent into soil erosion and ecological processes that we have destroyed. In my opinion, a certain amount of acres in CRP in Iowa should be mandatory for a certain percent of the cropland that you farm. For an easy example, if you have 100 acres of cropland that you own, 10% of that cropland should be mandatory CRP or Prairie, especially along waterways and floodplains. In today's farming industry, small time farmers have around 800 acres of cropland. In all actuality, all farmers have some land that has some environmental virtue that farming threatens. "This land may sit in a state conservation preserve, for example, or serve as a buffer between agricultural property and a river or lake." (Adler, 1996) Those farmers with that have 800 acres or more in crop

Introduction

African soils are extremely poor by nature, they consist of low organic matter as well as all major nutrients. Sub–Saharan Africa does not produce enough food to support their countries even in years of good harvest. Land degradation is exhibited as deforestation, decreasing biodiversity resources, soil moisture stress as well as soil erosion.

The following report will be assessing the socio–economic as well as the environmental impacts of soil erosion and land degradation impacts in the Ethopian Highlands of Tigray. The severe land degradation is a result of the soil erosion as well as the nutrient depletion. Throughout the past years soil and water conservation techniques have been comprehensively introduced. The prolonged use of these resources was not as anticipated. The poor performance of agriculture in many low income countries is due to the deterioration of the natural resource base. The major problem which limiting the development of the agricultural sector is the land degradation which is caused by soil erosion as well as nutrient depletion. This is an enormously serious problem especially in the tropical steep lands where rain fed agriculture comprises the major livelihoods of the people. A number of these countries have numerous soil and water conservation programs which have tried to mitigate the land degradation problem but have done so unsuccessfully.

In Ethiopia agriculture comprises the biggest share of the national economy; it contributes Get more content

The Effects of Soil Erosion

Over cultivation, over grazing, and deforestation are all the leading causes of soil erosion, or wearing down of the earth's soil (Wright & Boorse, 2011). Why are farmers over cultivating? Why is over grazing such a problem? Why is deforestation becoming a problem in the world? The answers are very simple. The solutions are even simpler. The first thing farmers do is cultivate, or till, the land to control the weeds and to bring oxygen to the soil (Wright & Boorse, 2011). The only problem, it leaves the soil unprotected from wind and water, which can have a negative effect by compressing the soil (Wright & Boorse, 2011). On top of that, aeration and filtration can be worse for the land. Aeration and filtration are meant to bring oxygen to the soil, which is what soil needs to stay healthy (Wright & Boorse, 2011). When it has a negative effect, splash erosion occurs. Splash erosion ruins the soil by sealing the top layer and not allowing oxygen through (Wright & Boorse, 2011). Another issue is poor crop rotation. Every few years it is recommended to lay hay and clover to increase the flow of nitrogen. When neglected, the soil degrades (Wright & Boorse, 2011). Where land receives little rainfall, this is called a dryland area (Wright & Boorse, 2011). This is an ideal place to raise livestock. However, taking advantage of this area, by over grazing, poses negativity on the land. When the grass growth doesn't keep up with the feeding, or not giving back

The first step that I would take to assess the land's condition is to take the time and goview the property for myself. I would inspect the area for soil erosion which would be clearlyevident from the large gullies. Soil erosion makes it difficult for vegetation to regrow, a problemthat perpetuates the lack of cover and gives rise to more erosion (Withgott & Laposata, 2014).Soil erosion is a serious problem and this would need to be fixed to help prevent it fromhappening even more. Then I would look to see if the property really contained the invasiveweeds instead of the native grasses as the invasive weeds are unpalatable to livestock (Withgott& Laposata, 2014). Finally I would look at the shrubs to see if they were encroaching of thegrassland area. If all three factors were evident...show more content...

This means the livestock eat too much of the grass andother vegetation exposing the soil and making it so erosion can happen; by planting new nativegrass the erosion can be slowed down. Once the grasslands where back functioning the way thatthey are supposed to be then grazing would be allowed but it would be controlled.I would allow grazing as this is necessary for our livestock to grow. We need ourlivestock to grow as this is one of our many food sources. I would allow the grazing to happenbut I would set limits on it as this would prevent overgrazing from happening. If overgrazingwere to happen to the area again it would essentially waste all the efforts that we put forth torestore the area. Range managers in the United States assess the carrying capacity of therangeland and inform livestock owners of these limits, so that herds are rotated from site to siteas needed to conserve grass cover and soil integrity (Withgott & Laposata, 2014). This issomething that I would stand by doing as it would allow there to be grazing but also preserve thearea so that it can eventually be used

Get more content

From the findings of Roslev et al. (1998) [54], PAH degradation in soil most often follows first order kinetics which was chosen here to model the degradation . Modeled versus measured average values of selected PAHs using Eq. 1 is plotted in Fig. 5. Despite some scatter, measured and fitted values match relatively well with an average relative deviation of 21%. R2 values were within the limits of 70–97% at P < 0.01. Values obtained from the model are in correlation with the measured values and are grouped around the linear fit of the slope (Fig. 5.). It is evident that the model describe well the changes of concentrations of the contaminants.

Fig.

The average RMSE (%) of soil moisture for this study was 10.8%, whereas it was 21.3% and 19% for the Geng et al. [56] and Zhang et al. [57].

5.3.

Rainfall is useful in the biodegradation of soils by supplying moisture and useful dissolved oxygen to microbes for degradation of dissolved organic pollutants, such as PAHs [58]. Based on the model results, Fig. 7 shows the relationship between rainfall and the total PAH degradation rate in percentage for the three sites (W–01, W–02 and W–03) for two different years. The pattern of behavior of PAH degradation versus precipitation was as expected. In 2006 which recorded the highest precipitation, it can be seen from the model estimates that a higher percentage of PAH degradation is also observed. Overall, the study indicates that the modified DNDC model (DNDC–OP) is capable of capturing the major trends of pollutant degradation in soils for the different weather conditions located in Canada.

Ft. McMurray (W–01), Edmonton (W–02) and Red Deer (W

5.4Effect of soil temperature and soil moisture on soil PAH degradation rates

A scenario analysis was conducted to examine the influence of temperature and moisture on

5. Correlation between actual (determined) concentrations of total soil PAHs and...show more content...

Fig 6. The degradation of four selected PAHs at the temperatures 10В°C and 20В°C showing measured and model results

Impact of rainfall on soil PAH degradation rates

Fig. 7. Model results showing rainfall (mm) and percentage degradation of soil PAH at three sites:

–03).

Effects of Soil Erosion Essay examples

Effects of Soil Erosion by Farms on the Environment and Some Solutions

Traci Kramer

Harrisburg Area Community College

Table of Contents

Abstract............................. Pg 3

Introduction...................... Pg 4

Causes................................ Pg 4–5

Land Affects...................... Pg 5

Water Affects................... Pg 5–6

Chemicals.......................... Pg 6

Lancaster County............. Pg 6

Prevention........................ Pg 7

Damage Control............... Pg 7

Conclusion......................... Pg 7–8

References........................ Pg 9

Abstract This paper will go in depth on soil erosion caused by farms. It will primarily look at how soil erosion from farms can affect the environment. The paper will then go in depth with seven supporting questions which include, what causes erosion, how erosion from runoff affects the land, how it affects...show more content...

On farms chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides are used all the time on crops. It then rains and all those chemicals get into streams and rivers. It then gets into your drinking water. You can tell yourself it is not that bad but you don't really know about all the chemicals you are taking into your body or how much is really getting into your body. Chemicals such as, nitrates, phosphates, acids, and even animal waste. All these chemicals can greatly harm your body. These chemicals also harm the aquatic life. If there are too many chemicals in the water it can

deplete the oxygen needed by these animals and in the end it can lead to cultural eutrophication and eventually lead to a huge fish kill. If the surface runoff continues then it can lead to highly polluted water sources which can be extremely toxic. Already 85% of large lakes have some degree of cultural eutrophication. In Oregon state pollutants from runoff such as lead, arsenic, herbicides, mercury, silver and zinc were all found at levels above state and federal limits (Dingfelder, 2010). Can you imagine what those chemicals could do to you? Another problem is the soil and silt that get into streams. It can greatly affect aquatic life which means less fish and more pollution.

Top soil erosion can carry with it a lot of different kinds of chemicals. Nitrates are one of these chemicals. Nitrates can cause things such as miscarriages in pregnant women and has also been linked to blue baby

Get more content

Disappearing Opportunities SOIL EROSION AND ITS EFFECTS

By Rhett Butler | Last updated July 22, 2012

The loss of trees, which anchor the soil with their roots, causes widespread erosion throughout the tropics. Only a minority of areas have good soils, which after clearing are quickly washed away by the heavy rains. Thus crop yields decline and the people must spend income to import foreign fertilizers or clear additional forest. Costa Rica loses about 860 million tons of valuable topsoil every year, while the Great Red Island, Madagascar, loses so much soil to erosion (400 tons/ha) that its rivers run blood–red, staining the surrounding Indian Ocean. Astronauts have remarked that it looks like Madagascar is bleeding to death, an apt description of a country with grave environmental degradation and an agriculture–reliant economy that depends on its soils. The rate of increase for soil loss after forest clearing is astonishing; a...show more content... Erosion is extremely costly for developing countries. Besides the damage to infrastructure, fisheries, and property, erosion of precious topsoils costs tens of billions of dollars worldwide each year. For example, in the late 1980s the Indonesian island of Java was losing 770 million metric tons of topsoil every year at an estimated cost of 1.5 million tons of rice, enough to fulfill the needs of 11.5–15 million people.

ENVIRONMENTAL REFUGEES

Environmental deterioration can leave people as "environmental refugees"–people who are displaced due to environmental degradation, including deforestation, sea–level rise, expanding deserts, and catastrophic weather events. Red Cross research shows more people are now displaced by environmental disasters than by war.

Erosion in Madagascar. Click image for more information. (Photo by R. Butler)

Review questions: Why do rainforests help prevent

What is soil erosion? Soil erosion is a natural process, occurring over geological time, and indeed it is a process that is essential for soil formation in the first place. With respect to soil degradation, most concerns about erosion are related to accelerated erosion, where the natural rate has been significantly increased mostly by human activity.Soil erosion by water is a widespread problem throughout Europe. Soil is naturally removed by the action of water or wind: such 'background' (or 'geological') soil erosion has been occurring for some 450 million years, since the first land plants formed the first soil. Even before this, natural processes moved loose rock, or regolith, off the Earth's surface, just as has happened ...show more content...

Diffuse overland flow. Note the raindrop impacts

Firstly, if rain arrives too quickly (i.e. with too high an intensity) for it to infiltrate: the runoff which results is then known as infiltration excess runoff, or Hortonian runoff. Secondly, runoff may occur if the soil has already absorbed all the water it can hold (i.e. because it is fully saturated, or if the soil is frozen). Runoff which results from this situation is known as saturation excess runoff. As runoff moves downhill, it is at first a thin diffuse film of water which has lost virtually all the kinetic energy which it possessed as falling rain. Thus it moves only slowly, has a low flow power, and is generally incapable of detaching or transporting soil particles. The micro topography (i.e. small–scale pattern of irregularities) of the soil's surface tends to cause this overland flow to concentrate in closed depressions, which slowly fill: this is known as 'detention storage' or 'ponding'. Both the flowing water, and the water in detention storage, protect the soil from raindrop impact, so that rainsplash redistribution usually decreases over time within a storm, as the depth of surface water increases. There are, however, complex interactions between rainsplash and overland flow. If rain continues, the increasing depth of water will eventually overtop the micro topographic depressions. Overland flow that is released in this way is likely to flow downhill more quickly and

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Soil Erosion

Expansive soils continue to be a major problem in pavement construction practice. These soils are low–graded due to their inferior engineering characteristics (e.g. low strength, high compressibility and a high potential for swelling and shrinkage), and thus characterized as unsuitable materials for subgrades (Sridharan and Gurtug 2004; Nalbantoglu 2006; Estabragh et al. 2013a). As a consequence, such soils often require modification – a process referred to as soil stabilization – to meet design guidelines prior application. Chemical stabilization by means of traditional cementitious agents including cement, lime and fly–ash can be regarded among the most common solutions in this context. Although such agents have been well–established as...show more content...

2015; Hoy et al. 2017; Latifi et al. 2017).

Polymers with hydrocarbon chains act as potential particle binders by entwining within the soil particles, and thus stabilizing the weak soil into a relatively firm mass (Brown et al. 2004). Positively charged polymers are electrostatically attracted to the negatively charged clay surface, while non–ionic polymers accomplish adsorption through van der Waals and/or hydrogen bonding (Theng 1982; Wallace et al. 1986; Miller et al. 1998). Even though anionic polymers tend to be repelled by clay particles due to initial charge repulsion, adsorption can still take place through the presence of cations in the double layer acting as bridges. The degree of attraction in this case is dependent on the amount and type of exchangeable cations, clay content, pH and polymer molecular size (Theng 1982; Lu et al. 2002). Polyvalent cations such as Ca2+ and Mg2+, for instance, offer greater efficiency in attracting the negatively charged groups on the polymer chains compared to univalent cations such as Na+ (Letey 1994; Laird 1997).

Sulfonated oils, also referred to as sulfonated hydrocarbons, can be classified as surfactant agents which are amphiphilic in nature. These products are water–soluble oils, which are often obtained by treating fatty

Get more content

Soil erosion is a natural process which can affect all types of landforms. Although it is a natural process it can be accelerated by both natural factors and manmade factors. Soil erosion ranges from a very slow process to a rapid process and it can be noticed in the loss of crop production potential, the damage to the drainage networks as well as the lower surface water quality. There are various factors which are taken into account when reviewing soil erosion such as the types of soil erosion, the causes of soil erosion as well as the effects of soil erosion.

Source A

Title: Soil Erosion in South Africa

Origin:

Serfontein, J. L., 1930. Soil Erosion in South Africa. [Online]

South Africa: Farming in South Africa [Accessed: 22 September 2017].

Summary:

When it comes to the causes of soil erosion, it can be divided into two groups which are categorised as Physical and Geographical causes or Manmade causes. One of the major physical factors affecting soil erosion in South Africa is the climate. South Africa has a sub–tropical climate and this is due to the lack of moisture in the atmosphere. Due to this factor, it causes a lack of resistance of the soil from the process of scouring which is where the top layer of the soil dries out and causes the top layer to be prone to be easily removed due to wind or rain. Another physical cause of soil erosion is the chemical composition of the soil and in South Africa, the soil does not possess the power to resist erosion thus, Get more content

"If you truly get in touch with a piece of carrot, you get in touch with the soil, the rain, the sunshine. You get in touch with Mother Earth and eating in such a way, you feel in touch with true life, your roots, and that is meditation. If you chew every morsel of our food in that way you become grateful and when you are grateful, you are happy." Said Thich Nhat Hanh.Soil erosion is the process by which the surface of the earth is worn away by the action of water, wind or by living organisms. Geologist said that about 70% of soil erosion is caused by human activities like agriculture, surface mining, excessive construction and forestry. The soil conservation is happening because of geographic and economic reasons. Agriculture also takes place for being a cause of erosion. "Mother nature may be a force, but nothing like humans when it comes to causing erosion," said a Syracuse University scientist. A person or an animal can cause erosion by simply removing soil, which is called accelerated erosion. People have been the main cause of worldwide erosion since the first millennium. In the United States, the rate average is around 1,500 feet per million years, and the rate is even higher in other parts of the world. Natural processes operate over areas larger than those affected by agriculture and construction, but even taking that into account, "the bottom line is, we move about 10 times as much sediment as all natural processes put together" Wilkinson said, a U–M

Environmental Science Professor Delia Comeau Case Study: Grassland Soil Erosion Overgrazing of grasslands is an issue occurring in many areas around the nation. In fact, it is the leading cause of all soil degradation, being responsible for more than 30 percent (Withgott & Lapostata, 2014, p. 222). Overgrazing has many consequences: land degradation; poor soil quality; invasive species of weeds and plants; 1loss in biodiversity; increased flooding prevalence and increased magnitude; even a possible contribution to climate change (Withgott & Lapostata, 2014, p. 229; Hogan, 2010). When faced with 500,000 acres of public land that are enduring these issues, many steps need to be taken in order to determine the future of the land and if grazing will be allowed to continue. One of the main ways of helping determine the future use of the land is in the soil quality. By observing the soil color, pH, texture, and structure, the proper means of restoration and conservation can be better determined.

There are many aspects soil that can be observed and measured in order to determine the quality of the lands condition. One property of soil that can be looked at is the color. 2Soil color can determine its composition and fertility. Soil that is pale in color usually suggest low organic contents and even leaching, while soil that is dark browns and black in color often suggest higher organic content and richness (Withgott & Lapostata, 2014, p. 220). Soil pH is another property that helps

INTRODUCTION

Soil is the precious gift of nature to the mankind. All the plant family, animal kingdom and human society at large depend upon soil for their sustenance directly or indirectly. Ironically, soil is the most neglected commodity on the earth. Shifting cultivation on the hill slopes, non–adoption of soil conservation techniques, and over exploitation of land for crop production due to population stress, leads to enormous soil erosion. It will take hundreds of years to form an inch of soil, but in no time it gets washed away down the slope due to erosion.

SOIL CONSERVATION

Soil Conservation is the process by which the loss of soil is checked, reducing the velocity of run–off through erosion control measures for maximum...show more content...

A terrace reduces the length of the hill side slope, thereby reducing sheet and rill erosion and prevents formation of gullies.

There are different types of terraces as follows:

вњ“ Bench terracing: It consists of transforming relatively steeps land into a series of level or nearly level strips or steeps running across the slope. The soil materials that are excavated from the upper part of the terrace is used in filling the lower part and a small bund is also raised along the outer edge of the terrace to check the downward flow of rainwater and also soil erosion. вњ“ Channel terrace: It consists of making of wide but shallow channels across the slope of the land either exactly on contour line or with a slight grade (0.1 to 0.2 per cent). In this process, the excavated soil is placed along the lower edge of the channel in the form of low ridge. вњ“ Narrow based terrace: It consists of making a number of narrow based ridges or bunds at a distance of 1m to 2m across the slope of the land at suitable intervals in high rainfall areas. вњ“ Broad based ridge terrace: It consists of making wide but low bunds on the contour lines by excavating soils from both sides of terrace. This is practiced in areas where the rainfall is relatively low. вњ“ Contour trenching: It consist of making a series of deep pit (i.e. 2ft. wide and 1ft. deep) or trenches across the slope at convenient distance. The soil excavated from the

п‚

§During Monsoon, different loses occurs in storing structures of surfaces because of high evaporation. Evaporation of barren soil along with the combined process involving evaporation, gaseous state transformation and transpiration of the water from the surface of earth into atmosphere increases the exhaustion of soil moisture thereby decreasing the quantity and rate of soil permeation. The overall result is reducing the overflow production potential. For recharge, the biggest restraining factor could be capacity of penetration of soil. The nonstop removal of soil helps in retaining the penetration capability in recharge areas as far as sandy and sandy loam soils are concerned. Because of intrinsic limitations of clayey soils, the results shows striking differences when compared to sandy soil. For two different soil conditions, results for infiltration tests in excavated wells in the state of Andhra Pradesh highlights that, in case of silty clay, within 10 minutes of the test, the infiltration rates become insignificant however for sandy loam soil, in first 25 minutes of the test, the rates starts to become stable around 129.1 mm/hour. The restoration capability of percolation ponds gets affected severely if rate of infiltration approaches to zero real quick. Hard rocky areas having thin layer of soil cover face the problem of less penetration potential to great extents. As infiltration rates reduce to a minimum value, severe effects can be seen on the functioning of the

Get more content

Adam Pazcoguin

Soil Erosion Research Report

The topic I chose for the science fair is soil erosion, which is the process of rocks and soil being slowly weathered away. Soil erosion often pushes the soil downhill, and often times contaminated soil will get into our water–ways, causing pollution. It is also said that up to 80% of Earth's agricultural soil can be affected by soil erosion. This can be very unhealthy for the economy, and can be harmful to futureagriculture as well. Factors that affect soil erosion are waves, water, ice, gravity, and glaciers. This project would be relevant to the topic "Earth and planetary sciences" because it goes along the "Earth science" theme which has to do with weathering and erosion.

First let's talk...show more content...

As I wrote earlier, up to 80% of Earth's agricultural soil is susceptible soil erosion. In other words, soil that can be used for future farms would be ruined. Soil erosion can also pollute waterways. This not only makes it so our fresh–water is contaminated, but the animals inhabiting that area will lose their home as well. Soil erosion can also increase the risk of a flood. Since the land had been corroded, it can't hold up as much water as before. Thus, increasing the risk of a flood occurring in agricultural fields. Judging from this paragraph, you can tell how bad the situation can be, that is why I want to find a way that fixes this problem.

The last point I want to address is how we can prevent soil erosion. 3 procedures we can do to help prevent erosion are: use land according to its capability, protect the soil surface with a type of cover, or control the runoff before it becomes an erosive force. Another source says we can also prevent erosion by planting vegetation, matting for residential properties, using mulch/fertilizer, and retaining walls/edging. Each of these can reduce soil erosion and can also be healthy for the environment.

Overall, Soil Erosion can be very harmful to the environment, but there are ways to prevent it. While there are multiple forms of erosion, my experiment will revolve around soil erosion and a way to prevent it. I have a better background about my topic now that I have seen some sources that explain things

Get more content

Soil erosion is a natural event that affects all land. In farming and other agriculture, soil erosion refers to the weathering away of topsoil by the natural forces such as wind, water or through acts associated with farming such as tilling. Soil erosion can be something that happens slowly over time or something that can happen in the blink of an eye causing severe land damage. This article shows the cause and effect of soil erosion on farm and agriculture land.

Wind erosion occurs mostly in flat, dry areas with fine, sandy soil. Wind erosion is caused when the wind moves topsoil from one place and deposits it to another. The speed and extent of the wind depend on the amount of soil erosion done. Extreme wind erosion can cause severe amount damage to land and crops. Wind erosion damages land and crops in many ways, one such way is soil drifting. Soil drifting can lead to soil infertility which in turn can lead to poor crop growth and production, especially in areas where wind erosion is very common. Continual wind erosion in one area over time can change the texture of the soil by loss of sand, silt, nutrients and organic matter. The removal of such matter from the soil makes it harder for the soil to hold moisture, making it more difficult for crops to grow. Wind erosion also damages crops by burial of plants and seeds or unearthing of newly planted seeds, resulting in expensive delays and making it necessary to replant. Abundant woods and vegetation around

Soil, which is one of the most important natural resources, is often less heeded. The importance of soil conservation is relatively less talked about as compared to the conservation of water and other natural resources. The almost–omnipresent soil is mostly taken for granted. Its omnipresence is ironically the reason behind us, human beings, taking it for a ride. We rarely even think of it as a natural resource that needs to be conserved, a part of the natural wealth that needs to be preserved.

The concept of the conservation of soil takes into account, the strategies for preventing the soil from getting eroded and preventing it from losing its fertility due to an adverse alteration in its chemical composition. Here are some ways to...show more content...

Salinity of soil is detrimental to the vegetative life in the soil. The death of vegetation is bound to cause soil erosion. Hence, salinity management is one of the indirect ways to conserve soil.

Soil organisms: Organisms like earthworms and others benefiting the soil should be promoted. Earthworms, through aeration of soil, enhance the availability of macronutrients in soil. They also enhance the porosity of soil. The helpful organisms of soil promote its fertility and form an element in the conservation of soil.

Indigenous Crops: Planting of native crops is known to be beneficial for soil conservation. If non–native plants are grown, the fields should be bordered by indigenous crops to prevent soil erosion and achieve soil

Get more content