What is erosion plus erosion control methods? Overgrazing is caused by intensive cattle raising. As plants don’t have the recovery period they need, they end up being crushed and compacted by cattle. In this process, topsoil sediments are transported elsewhere. As for the remaining soil, it can lose its infiltration capacity, which means more water getting lost from the ecosystem and a harder time for new plants to grow. The use of chemicals under the form of pesticides and fertilizers on (often) monocultural crops is a very usual way of helping farmers improve their yields. However, the excessive use of phosphoric chemicals ends up causing an imbalance of microorganisms in the soil moisture, stimulating the growth of harmful bacteria. As the soil gets degraded, the risk of erosion increases and the sediments sweep (via the actions of water and wind) into rivers and nearby regions, possibly contaminating nearby ecosystems.

Rainwater also mixes with chemicals as it falls from the sky, forming an acidic concoction that dissolves rock. For example, acid rain dissolves limestone to form karst, a type of terrain filled with fissures, underground streams, and caves like the cenotes of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Back up on the mountains, snow and ice build up into glaciers that weigh on the rocks beneath and slowly push them downhill under the force of gravity. Together with advancing ice, the rocks carve out a path as the glacier slumps down the mountain. When the glacier begins to melt, it deposits its cargo of soil and rock, transporting the rocky debris toward the sea.

Erosion will often occur after rock has been disintegrated or altered through weathering. Weathered rock material will be removed from its original site and transported away by a natural agent. With both processes often operating simultaneously, the best way to distinguish erosion from weathering is by observing the transportation of material. Moving water is the most important natural erosional agent. The wastage of the seacoast, or coastal erosion, is brought about mainly by the action of sea waves but also, in part, by the disintegration or degradation of sea cliffs by atmospheric agents such as rain, frost, and tidal scour. Discover even more info at what is erosion website.

Soil erosion, that is, the process that transforms soil into sediments, is one of the major and most widely spread forms of land degradation (Lal 2014; Weil and Brady 2017). It encompasses the destruction of the physical structure that supports the development of plant roots. Moreover, surface soil removal may result in substantial nutrient and water losses, as well as in the decrease of productivity and the increase of pollution of surface waterways. Soil erosion impacts thus the sustainability of ecosystems and the provision of ecosystem services. Soil conservation efforts address concerns with these impacts and meet the increasing needs for food and raw materials (Hurni et al. 2008).

Cover crops such as turnips and radishes are rotated with cash crops in order to blanket the soil all year- round and produce green manure the replenishes nitrogen and other critical nutrients. Using cover crops can also suppress weeds. A mixture of farming methods intending the mimic the biology of virgin land. These practices can be used to prevent erosion and even restore damaged soil and encourage plant growth. Eliminating the use of nitrogen fertilizer and fungicides can increase yields and protect crops from drought and flooding.