What is erosion with erosion control strategies? What is soil erosion and soil degradation? Although soil erosion is a natural process, human activities over the past decades have greatly accelerated it. In fact, according to the UNESCO, land degradation is undermining the well-being of two-fifths of humanity, driving species extinct and intensifying climate change. According to a senior UN official, all of the world’s topsoil could be gone within 60 years.

Bits of sand are picked up and carried off by the wind, which can then blast the sides of nearby rocks, buffing and polishing them smooth. On the seashore, the action of waves chips away at cliffs and rakes the fragments back and forth into fine sand. Plants and animals also take a heavy toll on Earth’s hardened minerals. Lichens and mosses can squeeze into cracks and crevices, where they take root. As they grow, so do the cracks, eventually splitting into bits and pieces. Critters big and small trample, crush, and plow rocks as they scurry across the surface and burrow underground. Plants and animals also produce acids that mix with rainwater, a combination that eats away at rocks.

The abrasive action of sand and pebbles washed against shorelines is probably the most significant wave erosional activity. Particles are dragged back and forth by wave action, abrading the bedrock along the coast and abrading each other, gradually wearing pebbles into sand. Wave erosion creates retrograde, or retreating, shorelines with sea cliffs, wave-cut benches at the base of the sea cliffs, and sea arches—curved or rectangularly shaped archways that result from different rates of erosion due to varied bedrock resistance. Besides the back-and-forth transportation of materials by wave action, sediments are transported by the lateral movement of waves after they wash ashore (beach drifting) or by shallow-water transport just offshore, known as longshore currents. These transportational movements lead to deposition and the formation of prograde, or advancing, shorelines, bars, spits, bayhead beaches (a bayhead beach is formed between two headlands), and barrier beaches (a barrier beach parallels the shore). Read more details on what is erosion guide.

Local climate change scenarios will contribute to water erosion processes, mostly by rainfall erosivity increase. Different forest management models provide varying levels of soil protection by trees, resulting in distinct soil loss potential. Results confirm the suitability of the proposed approach to address soil erosion concerns in forest management planning. This approach may help foresters assess management models and the corresponding silvicultural practices according to the water-related services they provide.

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.