Soil is liable to be removed from one place to another as a result of storm of flood. The dust blows along with the wind or flows in runoff water. This happens normally after rains. This is called soil erosion. Soil erosion refers to physically detaching soil particles from its original place.

It is known that solid development take a long process of weathering and disintegration of rocks, which change them into sand, silt clay and gravel. It has been estimated that a few centimeter of soil form in hundreds of years depending on the nature apparent rock materials.

Types of Soil Erosion

1. Water Erosion:

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Water removes soil in different ways. These are: (a) Sheet erosion (removal in small but uniform amount) (b) Rill erosion (run-off water cuts small streams like structure) (c) Gully erosion and (d) Stream bank erosion.

2. Wind Erosion:

Erosion due to wind includes siltation, suspension and surface crop. Wind erosion takes place normally in arid and semi-arid areas devoid of vegetation, where the wind velocity is high. The soil particles on the land surface are lifted and blown off as dust-storms. When the velocity of the dust-bearing winds is retarded, coarser soil particles are deposited in the form of dunes and thus fertile lands are rendered unfit for cultivation.

3. Landslide Erosion or Slip Erosion:

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A land slide is defined as an outward and down ward movement of the slope forming material, composed of natural rocks, soil, artificial fills etc. The fundamental causes of landslides are topography of the region and geological structure the kinds of rocks and their physical characteristics. The immediate cause of a slide may be an earthquake, or a heavy rain fall.

4. Erosion due to overgrazing, deforestation and over-hunting.

Consequence of Soil Erosion

Plant nutrients in the soil are regularly regenerated by decay, decomposition of organic matter deposited by living organisms. A number of microbes are known to produce growth promoting substances. Insects, helminthes, rodents etc turn over and mix large quantity of soil. Burrowing animals create innumerable passages in the soil which helps in the exchange of gases. Mucilage produced by blue green algae, bacteria and a number of other micro-organisms binds the soil particles in aggregates which prevent excessive leaching and erosion. In absence of rate communities soil turns into a unless heap of sand silt and clay.

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Anything detrimental to a top the living community, within the soil, tends, to cause its degeneration loss fertility and increased rate of soil erosion.

Soil Conservation :

The main aim of soil conservation is to prevent the loss of precious top soil from erosion and to maintain it in a fertile state for agricultural purposes. Soil conservation depends on the following:

1. Protection of soil from impact of rain drops.

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2. Prevention of water from concentrating and moving down the slope.

3. To slow down the water movement when filming down the slope.

4. To increase the size of soil particles.

5. Reduction in wind velocity near the ground by growing vegetation covers.