What is erosion plus erosion control strategies? 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.
Water is nature’s most versatile tool. For example, take rain on a frigid day. The water pools in cracks and crevices. Then, at night, the temperature drops and the water expands as it turns to ice, splitting the rock like a sledgehammer to a wedge. The next day, under the beating sun, the ice melts and trickles the cracked fragments away. Repeated swings in temperature can also weaken and eventually fragment rock, which expands when hot and shrinks when cold. Such pulsing slowly turns stones in the arid desert to sand. Likewise, constant cycles from wet to dry will crumble clay.
Erosion, therefore, includes the transportation of eroded or weathered material from the point of degradation (such as the side of a mountain or other landform) but not the deposition of material at a new site. The complementary actions of erosion and deposition or sedimentation operate through the geomorphic processes of wind, moving water, and ice to alter existing landforms and create new landforms. See extra information at erosion control wiki.
Soil erosion by water is linked to desertification processes. Its severity is prone to increase as a consequence of changes in the amount of precipitation as well as in its temporal and spatial distribution under prospective climate scenarios (IPCC 2014a). This will exert further pressure on ecosystems water balance and calls thus for adequate soil protection and conservation practices in the framework of ecosystems management (Coutinho and Antunes 2006; Jones et al. 2011; Panagos et al. 2015b, 2015c; Anaya-Romero et al. 2016; Seidl et al. 2016).
Soil erosion removes the topsoil that is necessary for organic matter, nutrients, micro-organisms that are required for plants to grow and shine. Soil conservation is one such step that protects the soil from being washed away. The soil then ends up in aquatic resources bringing in pesticides and fertilizers used on agricultural land. Healthy soil is important for plants to grow and flourish. Taking the necessary steps to conserve the soil as part of an environmentally friendly lifestyle. There are several ways to conserve soil that can be done through agricultural practices or measures you take at home.