What type of erosions are there

Sheet erosion occurs when a thin layer of topsoil is removed over a whole hillside paddock—and may not be readily noticed. Rill erosion occurs when runoff water forms small channels as it concentrates down a slope. These rills can be up to 0. If they become any deeper than 0. Scalding can occur when wind and water erosion removes the top soil and exposes saline or sodic soils.

Raindrop impact alone can result in large amounts of soil being moved. However water or wind moving over the surface will remove more soil, and contribute to sheet, rill and gully erosion.

Erosion also tends to remove the lighter, smaller soil particles first such as clay and silt , leaving fine and coarse sand behind. A combination of large amounts of fine sand and small amounts of clay at the surface means the soil tends to seal and set hard, which limits infiltration water entering the soil.

Gully erosion happens when runoff concentrates and flows strongly enough to detach and move soil particles. For example, a waterfall may form, with runoff picking up energy as it plunges over the gully head. Splashback at the base of the gully head erodes the subsoil and the gully eats its way up the slope. Gullies may develop in watercourses or other places where runoff concentrates.

In cultivation or pastures, advanced rill erosion can develop into gully erosion. This type of erosion is highly visible and affects soil productivity, restricts land use, and can damage roads, fences and buildings. Even though erosion is a natural phenomenon, human interference into natural systems have created erosion that is much higher than the average geological erosion rate.

Erosion is a threat to sustained agricultural production. Soil erosion is a process of moving soil by water or wind - when the soil particles are detached and transported to a different location.

This is a natural process that has occurred for eons of time. Water, wind, ice, and gravity are involved in moving soil materials. Humans, however, have often caused accelerated erosion by our manipulation of the soil for agriculture or construction use.

When soils are left bare even for a short period such as when fields are tilled for planting , the soil can be picked up and moved. These bare soil drops are exposed to the energy of the raindrops and wind. The finer particles of soil are eroded first, taking with them most of the natural fertility and production potential.

However, with plant cover, the roots bind the soil particles together and lesson erosion. Erosion involved three processes: detachment from the ground , transportation via water or wind , and deposition.

The deposition is often in places we don't want the soil such as streams, lakes, reservoirs, or deltas. And, of concern is that the topsoil is often the most fertile and when it erodes away, the subsoil is less productive. Water is powerful! Water erosion is caused by two main forces - raindrop impact and flowing water. Raindrops can both destroy soil aggregates and transport soil small distances. When the velocity of wind or water slows, eroded sediment is deposited in a new location.

The sediment builds up in a process called sedimentation and creates fertile land. River delta s are made almost entirely of sediment that has eroded from the banks and bed of a river.

The rich delta soils of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers in northern California, for example, have created one of the most agriculturally productive areas in the world. Loess is an agriculturally rich sediment made almost entirely of wind-blown, eroded sediment.

The Yellow River in central China gets its name from the yellow loess blown into and suspended in its water. Human activity altering the vegetation of an area is perhaps the biggest human factor contributing to erosion. Trees and plants hold soil in place. When people cut down forests or plow up grasses for agriculture and development, the soil is more vulnerable to washing or blowing away. Landslides become more common. Water rushes over exposed soil rather than soaking into it, causing flooding.

Global warming , the current period of climate change , is speeding erosion. The change in climate has been linked to more frequent and severe storms. Storm surge s following hurricanes and typhoon s can erode kilometers of coastline and coastal habitat. These coastal areas are home to residences, businesses, and economically important industries, such as fisheries. The rise in temperature is also quickly melting glaciers. The slower, more massive form of glacial erosion is being supplanted by the cumulative impact of rill, gully, and valley erosion.

In areas downstream from glacial snouts, rapidly melting glaciers are contributing to sea level rise. The rising sea erodes beaches more quickly. Erosion control is the process of reducing erosion by wind and water. Farmer s and engineer s must regularly practice erosion control. Sometimes, engineers simply install structures to physically prevent soil from being transported. Gabion s are huge wireframes that hold boulders in place, for instance.

Gabions are often placed near cliffs. These cliffs, often near the coast, have homes, businesses, and highways near them. When erosion by water or wind threatens to tumble the boulders toward buildings and cars, gabions protect landowners and drivers by holding the rocks in place. Erosion control also includes physically changing the landscape. Communities often invest in windbreak s and riparian buffer s to protect valuable agricultural land. Windbreaks, also called hedgerow s or shelterbelt s, are lines of trees and shrubs planted to protect cropland from wind erosion.

Riparian buffers describe plants such as trees, shrubs, grasses, and sedges that line the banks of a river. Riparian buffers help contain the river in times of increased stream flow and flooding. Living shoreline s are another form of erosion control in wetland areas. Living shorelines are constructed by placing native plants, stone, sand, and even living organisms such as oysters along wetland coasts.

These plants help anchor the soil to the area, preventing erosion. By securing the land, living shorelines establish a natural habitat. They protect coastlines from powerful storm surges as well as erosion. Eroding Animals. Cave entrances can be on land or in water. Also called limestone and calcium carbonate. Dust Bowl. Also known as an ice age. Northern Hemisphere. Media Credits The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.

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Sheet erosion control starts with the maintenance of ground cover, soil structure, and soil organic matter. This prevents the development of splash erosion by preventing topsoil compaction.

Another protection option is the use of mulch to cover the land surface. As the productivity of the field can decrease after such soil degradation, Crop Monitoring enables farmers to monitor the productivity of a separate field not only throughout the season but in the long run too. Season by season, a farmer can compare the productivity areas of the field and identify the problem sites.

Setting the scouting tasks helps effectively check weather water erosion processes present in the field and implement timely management strategies. The only way to prevent rill erosion at the stage when the runoff has already formed is to reduce the waterflow speed and harden the soil. One of the best ways to slow down the waterflow is to protect the land surface with the growing plants cover or a crop residue. And soil hardening can be ensured by correct crop rotation.

Not to allow this type of soil health degradation, the farmers need to minimize tree clearing and prevent moisture concentration into gullies from buildings, roads, and stock routes. Gully erosion control methods are basically a combination of approaches that aim to avoid extra water access to the land. Such ways of controlling gully erosion imply the use of fencing, banks and different engineering constructions to avoid extra water access to the land.

Preventing tunnel erosion is not an easy task. Only a few are successful in it. This type of erosion is not only difficult but expensive to control. It requires the use of chemical, mechanical, and vegetative forces to prevent tunnelling and influence its further development.

Regular soil testing helps not only to identify tunnel erosion timely but also make important tests for pH level, electrolyte concentration, etc. The already damaged fields with tunnel erosion require not only chemical amelioration but application of fertilizers to the areas that suffer from decreased productivity. In this case, differentiated fertilization is the best option.

The Crop Monitoring zoning feature divides a field into different areas considering the productivity of the planted crops. Such an approach helps to maximize yields of a damages field as well as reduce an impact of chemicals on the soil. Maintaining the soil healthy and preventing it from occurence of any type of water erosion is one of the essential tasks of any agronomist. Crop Monitoring helps not only in remote spotting and controlling of soil damage caused by water, but also assists growers throughout the whole process of crop growing, from seeding to harvesting.