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Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the upper layer of soil. ... Human Impact has major effects on erosion processes—first by denuding the land of ...
Soil erosion is the main factor for soil degradation and is due to several mechanisms: water erosion, wind erosion, chemical degradation and physical degradation. Erosion can be influenced by human activity. For example, roads which increase impermeable surfaces lead to streaming and ground loss.
If the erosion rate exceeds soil formation, erosion destroys the soil. [76] Lower rates of erosion can prevent the formation of soil features that take time to develop. Inceptisols develop on eroded landscapes that, if stable, would have supported the formation of more developed Alfisols. [77] While erosion of soils is a natural process, human ...
Soil erosion in a wheat field near Pullman, US. High population density is not always related to land degradation. Rather, it is the practices of the human population that can cause a landscape to become degraded. Severe land degradation affects a significant portion of the Earth's arable lands, decreasing the wealth and economic development of ...
For 2010, annual average soil loss by sheet, rill and wind erosion on non-federal US land was estimated to be 10.7 t/ha on cropland and 1.9 t/ha on pasture land; the average soil erosion rate on US cropland had been reduced by about 34% since 1982. [72]
Unprotected, dry soil surfaces blow away with the wind or are washed away by flash floods, leaving infertile lower soil layers that bake in the sun and become an unproductive hardpan. This spread of arid areas is caused by a variety of factors, such as overexploitation of soil as a result of human activity and the effects of climate change. [3] [4]
Common attributes of soil degradation can be salting, waterlogging, compaction, pesticide contamination, a decline in soil structure quality, loss of fertility, changes in soil acidity, alkalinity, salinity, and erosion. Soil erosion is the wearing away of topsoil by water, wind, or farming activities. [54]
Soil erosion occurs naturally, but human activities can greatly increase its severity. [28] Soil that is healthy is fertile and productive. [29] But soil erosion leads to a loss of topsoil, organic matter, and nutrients; it breaks down soil structure and decreases water storage capacity, reducing fertility and water availability to plant roots.