Title: Soil Erosion and Agents that Degraded Soil

Topic : Soil and Water Erosion

Time Frame : 14 hours
Introduction:
Soil are ingredients of our foods. Life depends on soil. Management and conservation of
soil and water resources are critical to human well-being. Their prudent use and management
are more important now than ever before to meet the high demands for food production and
satisfy the needs of an increasing world population. Despite the extensive research and
abundant literature on soil and water conservation strategies, concerns of worldwide soil
degradation and environmental pollution remain high.
Soil is the most fundamental resource. Soil is an essential resource. Although
erroneously dubbed as "dirt" or perceived as something of insignificant value, humans cannot
survive without soil because it is the basis of all terrestrial life. Soil is a vital resource that
provides food, feed, fuel, and fibre. It underpins food security and environmental quality, both
essential to human existence. Essentiality of soil to human well-being is often not realized until
the production of food drops or jeopardized when the soil is severely eroded or degraded to the
level that it loses its inherent resilience
Traditionally, the soil's primary function has been as a medium for plant growth.
Objectives :
1. Distinguish reasons of soil and water erosions and their management.( CO6)
2. Recommend soil and environmental conservation measures appropriate in the
locality.(CO6)
Learning Activities:
A. Discussion
1. Soil Erosion
History of Soil Erosion
Accelerated erosion is as old as agriculture. It dates back to the early civilizations in
Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, and other regions in the Middle East (Bennett, 1939). The
collapse of great ancient civilizations in Mesopotamia along the Tigris-Euphrates Rivers
illustrates the consequences when lands irreversibly degraded.Hugh Hammond Bennett,
recognized as the “Father of Soil Conservation” in the U.S.,described in his well-known
textbook in detail the historical episodes and consequences of severe erosion (Bennett, 1939).
Troeh et al. (2004) also reviewed past and current erosion rates around the world.
Now, along with the increasing concerns of food security, the soil has multi-functionality
including environmental quality, the global climate change, and repository for urban/industrial
waste. World soils now managed to:
1. meet the ever-increasing food demand
2. filter air
3. purify water
4. store carbon (C) to offset the anthropogenic emissions of CO2
Food security, Water quality Projected global Production of biofuel
biodiversity, and climate change feedstock’s
urbanization
 ➢ Food ➢ Filtration of ➢ Sink of CO2 and (e.g., warm-season
➢ Fibre pollutants CH4 grasses and
➢ Housing ➢ Purification of ➢ sequestration in short-rotation
➢ Recreation water soil and biota woody crops)
➢ Infrastructure ➢ Retention of ➢ Reduction of Prairie grasses
➢ Waste disposal sediment and nitrification
➢ Microbial diversity chemicals ➢ Deposition and
➢ Preservation of ➢ Buffering and burial of C-enriched
flora and fauna transformation of sediment
chemical’s
Soil is a non-renewable resource over the human time scale. It is dynamic and prone to
rapid degradation with land misuse. Productive lands are finite and represent only <11% of
earth's land area but supply food to more than six billion people is increasing at the rate of 1.3%
per year (Eswaran et al., 2001).
Two types of soil erosion:
✓ Geologic erosion is a normal process of
weathering that generally occurs at low rates in
all soils as part of the natural soil-forming
processes.
✓ Accelerated erosion, a type of soil erosion
becomes a significant concern when the rate of
decay exceeds a certain threshold level and
becomes rapid.

What are the consequences of soil erosion?

Accelerated soil erosion causes adverse agronomic, ecologic, environmental, and economic
effects. Accelerated erosion has an on-site and off-site impact on soil. Not only it affects
agricultural lands but also the quality of forest, pasture, and rangelands. Cropland soils are,
however, more susceptible to erosion because these soils are often left bare or with little
residue cover between the cropping seasons. Even during the growing season, row crops are
vulnerable to soil erosion. The on-site consequences involve the reduction in soil productivity
primarily, while the off-site results are mostly due to the sediment and chemicals transported
away from the source into natural waters by streams and depositional sites by the wind.
Soil mismanagement, cultivation of steep slopes, and urbanization accelerate the soil erosion
hazard. Land use and management, topography, climate, and social, economic, and political
conditions influence soil erosion (Table 1.3). In developing countries, soil erosion directly linked
to the poverty level. Resource-poor farmers lack the means to establish conservation practices.
Subsistence agriculture forces farmers to use extractive methods on small size farm (0.5–2 ha)
year after year for food production, delaying or completely excluding the adoption of
conservation practices that reduce soil erosion risks (Lal, 2007). The leading three causes of
accelerated soil erosion are deforestation, overgrazing, and mismanagement of cultivated soils.
About 35% of soil erosion attributed to overgrazing, 30% to deforestation, and
28% to excessive cultivation (FAO, 1996).

Factors affecting soil erosion and the attendant environmental pollution

Land Use Cultivation Climate and Social-economic
Topography condition
➢ Deforestation ➢ Excessive ➢ Frequent and ➢ Ineffective
➢ Overgrazing ploughing intense droughts conservation
➢ Urbanization (tillage) ➢ Steep slopes policies
➢ Slashing and ➢ High chemical (water and tillage ➢ Poorly defined
burning input erosion) land tenure
➢ Mining ➢ Irrigation ➢ Rugged ➢ Lack of incentives
➢ Industrial ➢ Salinization Topography and weak
activities ➢ Residue removal ➢ Intense rainstorm ➢ institutional
➢ Road constructions ➢ Intensive row ➢ Frequent support
➢ Forest fires cropping flooding ➢ High population
➢ Monocropping ➢ Intense density
➢ Shifting windstorms ➢ Low income
cultivation ➢ Flat terrains ➢ Non-availability of
(wind erosion) input

Some of the erosion-induced soil degradation processes

Properties of soil Increases Decreases
Physical Properties ✓ Surface sealing ➢ Topsoil depth
✓ Crusting ➢ Soil structural stability
✓ Compaction ➢ Macroporosity
✓ Deflocculation ➢ Plant available water capacity
✓ and content ➢ Water infiltration
 Chemical ✓ Acidification ➢ Cation exchange capacity
Properties ✓ Salinization ➢ Nutrient storage and cycling
✓ Sodication ➢ Biogeochemical cycles
✓ Water pollution
Biological ✓ Biomass production ➢ Organic matter decomposition
Properties ✓ Soil organic matter content ➢ Eutrophication
✓ Nutrient content and cycling ➢ Hypoxia
✓ Microbial biomass, activity and ➢ Emission of greenhouse gases
diversity

2. Water Erosion
What is Water erosion?
Water erosion is the wearing away of the soil surface by
➢ water from rain
➢ runoff
➢ snowmelt
➢ Irrigation

Rainwater, in the form of runoff, is the primary driver of water erosion.

It refers to the movement of soil organic and inorganic particles along the soil surface with
flowing water and deposition of the eroded materials at lower landscape positions and in aquatic
ecosystems.
The eroded material can either form a new soil or fill lakes, reservoirs, and streams.

The main types of soil erosion are:

1. splash erosion
2. interrill erosion
3. rill erosion
4. gully erosion
5. streambank erosion
6. Tunnel erosion.
1.Splash Erosion
The bombardment of the soil surface causes splash erosion by impacting raindrops. Processes
of splash erosion involve raindrop impact, a splash of soil particles, and the formation of craters
(Ghadiri, 2004).
Raindrops striking the soil surface develop a raindrop-soil particle momentum before releasing
their energy in the form of a splash.
These raindrops strike the soil like small bombs forming craters or cavities of contrasting shapes
and sizes. The depth of holes which is equal to the extent of raindrop energy penetration is a
function of raindrop velocity, size, and shape.

2.Interrill Erosion

This type of erosion is mostly due to shallow flow. Some particles are carried away in runoff
flowing in a thin sheet and some concentrate in small rills.
Interrill is the most common type of soil erosion. Splash and interrill erosion make up about
70% of total soil erosion and co-occur although
splash erosion dominates during the initial process.
Interrill erosion is a function of particle detachment, rainfall intensity, and field slope.

3.Rill Erosion
It refers to the soil erosion that occurs in small channels or rills. Rill erosion occurs due to
concentrated rather than shallow flow.
Runoff water that concentrates in small channels erodes soil at faster rates than interrill erosion.
The force of the flow and the soil particles creeping along the rill bed enlarge rills. Rill erosion is
the second most common pathway of soil erosion.

4.Gully Erosion
Gully erosion creates either V- or U- shaped channels. The gullies are linear incision channels
of at least 0.3m width and 0.3m depth. Gullies are primarily formed by concentrated runoff
converging in lower points of the field.
Two forms of Gully Erosion
a. Ephemeral gullies are shallow channels that can be readily corrected by routine tillage
operations.
b. Permanent gullies are too large to be smoothed by regular tillage or crossed by machinery
traffic and require expensive measures of reclamation and control.

5.Tunnel Erosion
Tunnel erosion, also known as pipe erosion, is the underground soil erosion and is common in
arid and semi-arid lands.
Runoff in channels, natural cracks, and animal burrows initiates tunnels by infiltrating into and
moving through dispersible subsoil layers. The surface of shaft erosion-affected soils is often
stabilized by roots (e.g., grass) intermixed with soil while the subsoil is relatively loose and
easily erodible.
Presence of water seepage, lateral flow, and interflow is a sign of tunnel erosion. The tunnels or
cavities expand to the point where they no longer support the surface weight and collapse,
forming potholes and gullies.

6.Streambank Erosion

It refers to the collapse of banks along streams, creeks, and rivers due to the erosive power of
runoff from uplands fields.

Process of water erosion

Water erosion is a complex three-step natural phenomenon which involves
➢ Detachment
➢ Transport
➢ Deposition
The process of water erosion begins with discrete raindrops impacting the soil surface and
detaching soil particles followed by transport. The detachment of soil releases fine soil particles
which form surface seals.

The first two processes involving dispersion and removal of soil define the amount of soil that is
eroded, and the last process (deposition) determines the distribution of the eroded material
along the landscape.
If there were no erosion, there would be no deposition. Thus, detachment and entrainment of
soil particles are the primary processes of soil erosion, and, like a deposition, occur at any point
of soil.
Factors affecting soil erosion
Climate Vegetative cover Topography Soil Properties
➢ All climatic ➢ ➢ Soil erosion ➢ Texture, organic
factors (e.g., Vegetative increases with an matter content,
precipitation, coverreduces increase in field macroporosity,
humidity, erosion by slope. and water
temperature, intercepting, ➢ Soil topography infiltration
evapotranspiration, adsorbing, and determines the influence
solar radiation, and reducing the velocity at which significantly on
wind velocity) erosive energy of water runs off the soil erosion.
affect water raindrops. field.
erosion. ➢ The runoff ➢ Antecedent water
➢ transport capacity content is also an
➢ Precipitation Plant increases with an essential factor as
is the primary morphology such increase in slope it defines the soil
agent of water as the height of steepness. pore space
erosion. plant and canopy available for
structure ➢ Soils on convex rainwater
influences the fields are more absorption.
➢ Amount, effectiveness of readily eroded than
intensity, and vegetation cover. in concave areas
frequency of due to interaction ➢ Soil aggregation
precipitation ➢ Surface with surface affects the rate of
determine the residue cover creeping of soil by detachment and
magnitude of sponges up the gravity. transportability.
erosion. falling raindrops
and reduces the
bouncing of drops.
It increases soil
roughness, slows
runoff velocity,
and filters soil
particles in the
runoff.

➢ Soil
detachment
increases with
decrease in
vegetative cover.
 ➢ High coagulate soil
temperature may colloids.
reduce water ➢ Dense ➢ Steeper terrain
erosion by and short growing slopes are prone to ➢ Compaction
increasing (e.g. grass) mudflow erosion reduces soil
evapotranspiration vegetation is more and landslides. macroporosity and
and reducing the effective in erosion
reducing water infiltration
soil water content. than sparse and tall and increases
vegetation. runoff rates.

➢ High air ➢ Large and unstable

humidity is ➢ The aggregates are
associated with denser the canopy more detachable
higher soil water and thicker the litter than smaller one.
content. cover, the higher is
the splash erosion
➢ Higher control, and the ➢ Interactive
winds increase soil lower is the total processes among
water depletion and soil erosion. soil properties
reduce water define soil
erosion. erodibility.
Soil Properties Affecting Erodibility of water erosion on

Soil Texture
✓ Sandy soils are less cohesive than clayey soils and thus aggregates with high sand content
are more easily detached.
✓ Sandy soils have larger macropores and absorb water more rapidly than clayey soils.
✓ Macropores conduct water more quickly than micropores. Under low-intensity rains, sandy
soils produce less runoff than clayey soils.
✓ Well-aggregated clayey soil is more resistant to erosion than coarse-textured soils, once
detached, the clay particles are readily removed by runoff due to their smaller size.
✓ Silty soils derived from loess parent material are the most erodible type of soil. Water
infiltration is positively correlated with an increase in coarse soil particles and negatively with an
increase in fine particles (Wuest et al., 2006).

Structure
✓ Soil structure, an architectural arrangement of soil particles, confines pore space,
biological entities, and aggregates of different size, shape and stability. The soil's ability to resist
erosion depends on its structure.
✓ Soils with poor soil structure are more detachable, unstable, and susceptible to
compaction, thereby have low water infiltration and high runoff rates.

Surface Sealing
✓ Surface sealing is a major cause of low water infiltration rate and high risks of runoff and
soil erosion—surface sealing results from the combined effect of raindrop impact on the soil
surface and deflocculation of clay particles.
✓ The rainfall impact breaks exposed surfaces of soil aggregates and disperses clay
creating a thin and compact layer of slaked fine particles at the soil surface, known as surface
seals.
✓ The settled fine particles fill and clog the water-conducting soil pores significantly
decreasing the infiltration rate and increasing surface runoff and soil transport.
✓ When dry, surface seals form crusts with a thickness ranging between 0.1 and 5 cm.

Aggregate Properties
✓ The adherence of primary soil particles to each other more strongly than to the
neighbouring soil particles creates an aggregate.
✓ Aggregate attributes are essential to understanding and modelling soil erosional
processes, particularly in well-aggregated soils.
✓ Soil properties concerning stability and erodibility are often assessed using large
samples rather than structural units or discrete aggregates.

Stability
✓ Stability refers to the ability of an aggregate to withstand the destructive applied forces
(e.g., raindrops).
✓ It is a function of the cohesive forces that hold the primary particles together. Soil
detachment by rainfall depends on the ability of surface aggregates to resist the disruptive
energy of raindrops.
✓ Raindrop energy must overcome the cohesive strength of the aggregate to disintegrate
it.
Strength
✓ Aggregate strength is a dynamic property that affects soil erodibility. One of the most
useful mechanical properties of aggregates is tensile strength, which refers to the force required
to break an aggregate.
✓ It is a measure of the inter- and intraaggregate bonding forces and the amount of soil
aggregation.
✓ Depending on the soil and management, air- dry aggregates from ploughed soils
following reconsolidation tend to have higher tensile strength than those from no-till soils.

Density
✓ Compacted soils often have a low number of macropores, high bulk density, and low
water infiltration and high runoff rates.
✓ Tillage and residue management and manure application affect aggregate density
because of the rapid post-tillage consolidation in concomitance with the low soil organic matter
content.
✓ Ploughed soils generally have higher aggregate density and a smaller number of
macropores than no-till soils.

Wettability
✓ Wettability is the ability of soil to absorb water. Some soil aggregates exhibit slight water
repellency due to the coating of their surface. Soil organic matter derived exudates, and humic
substances which form hydrophobic surface films tend to repel the coating on the soil particles
(Chenu et al., 2000).
✓ Moderate water repellency is beneficial to soil structural stability because it reduces
slaking and increases the durability of aggregates. However, high water repellency
can significantly reduce water infiltration and increase runoff rates. Quantity and quality of soil
organic matter influence the hydrophobicity of aggregates.

Study Questions:
1. How can we mitigate water erosion?
2. How industrialization affects water erosion?

B. Assigned Task/Laboratory Activity

1. Use the same groupings.
2. Visit a farm located in a steep area and a farm located in a flat area.
3. Observe the appearance of the top soil in each farm and try to identify the type of
erosion occurring in the farms based on what you learned from the discussion on soil
erosion. Use the table below.
4. Also note the effects of soil erosion on the growth
5. Provide documentation through video presentation of the farms you visited and the
condition of the farms.

Type of Erosion Observed in the Farms

Farm Type of Erosion Identified Observed/identified effect on
crop growth
Farm in steep slopes Soil Water Erosion
Erosion

Farm in flat area

References
1.Blanco-Canqui H, Lal R Principle of Soil Conservation, The Ohio State University,
Columbus, OH, USA Kansas State University, Hays, KS, USA
2.Blanco-Canqui H, Lal R (2008a) Corn stover removal impacts on micro-scale soil physical
properties. Geoderma 145:335–346
3.Blanco-Canqui H, Lal R (2008) Extent of subcritical water repellency in long-term no-till
soils. Geoderma (in press).
4.Blanco-Canqui H, Gantzer CJ, Anderson SH et al. (2002) Saturated hydraulic conductivity
and its impact on simulated runoff for claypan soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 66:1596–1602
5.Chenu C, Le Bissonnais Y, Arrouays D (2000) Organic matter influence on clay wettability
and soil aggregate stability. Soil Sci Soc Am J 64:1479–1486
6.Ghadiri H (2004) Crater formation in soils by raindrop impact. Earth Surf Processes
Landforms 29:77–89
7.Wuest SB, Williams JD, Gollany HT (2006) Tillage and perennial grass effects on ponded
infiltration for seven semi-arid loess soils. J Soil Water Conserv 61:218–223
SUMMARY:
Soil is the most fundamental resource. Although erroneously dubbed as "dirt" or
perceived as something of insignificant value, people can't survive without soil due to the
fact it is the groundwork of all terrestrial life. Soil is an essential aid that presents food, feed,
fuel, and fibre. It underpins meals safety and environmental quality, both vital to human
existence. Essentiality of soil to human well-being is regularly no longer realized till the
manufacturing of meals drops or jeopardized when the soil is severely eroded or degraded
to the degree that it loses its inherent resilience.
The magnitude of soil erosion has drastically affected its drivers; this is large factors that can
be labelled as natural and human-made. Both of these elements are interrelated. Water
erosion for an instance is the principal component of complete soil erosion. Runoff is the
fundamental driver of water erosion. While erosion is an integral manner of soil formation,
accelerated erosion adversely influences soil and environmental quality. The essential types
of water erosion are splash, interrill, rill, gully, streambank, and tunnel erosion.
Understanding the techniques and factors of water erosion is fundamental to manipulate
and strengthen erosion control practices. The water erosion method begins with the
detachment of soil aggregates below raindrop influences observed via transport of
indifferent particles and deposition of soil particles. A detachment of soil particles motives
surface sealing, thereby decreasing water infiltration and causing runoff and soil loss.
Climate, vegetative cover, topography, and soil properties are predominant factors that have
an effect on water erosion.
Wind erosion can be as excessive as these from water erosion. Anthropogenic and climatic
strategies impact the magnitude of wind erosion. Deforestation and intensive ploughing are
the leading reasons of accelerated wind erosion. The strategies of wind erosion are
comparable to these of water erosion: detachment, transport, and deposition. Transport of
soil particles via wind is a feature of particle size. Soil particles are transported through wind
through suspension, saltation, and floor creep. Smaller soil particles remain suspended in
air longer time and are transported quicker and farther as atmospheric dust. About 50 to
70% of soil particles are transported by using saltation, 30 to 40% by way of suspension and
about 5 to 25% via floor creep. Climatic stipulations (e.g., wind pace and duration,
precipitation, air humidity, temperature), land surface houses (field slope, length, width,
roughness, residue management,), soil characteristics (e.g., particle size distribution,
particle density, mixture dimension and stability, water content, organic count content), and
land use and administration (e.g., forest, rangeland, pasture, kind of cultivation, windbreaks)
are elements that decide the severity of wind
erosion. Tillage erosion is the gradual soil displacement downhill brought about via
ploughing. While the significance of water and wind erosion is broadly recognized, tillage
erosion is additionally
a quintessential thing of whole soil erosion on sloping croplands. Rates of tillage erosion can
be as excessive as these of water and wind erosion in some soils. Tillage erosion is a
considerable problem on sloping terrains the place agriculture is practiced on soils of 20–
80% slope gradients. No-till practice and reduce tillage are some of practices in address
tillage erosion.