Soil Erosion: What is it?

As mentioned earlier, this blog is dedicated to educating the public about the issue of soil erosion. But what is soil erosion exactly? Before we can get into the causes, problems, and solutions associated with soil erosion let's get to the bottom of what it is. The National Soil Resources Institute of Cranfield University in the United Kingdom offers the following definition:

"Soil erosion is the wearing away of the land surface by physical forces such as rainfall, flowing water, wind, ice, temperature change, gravity or other natural or anthropogenic agents that abrade, detach and remove soil or geological material from one point on the earth's surface to be deposited elsewhere."

Do not let this definition mislead you into thinking that soil erosion is a completely natural process. While erosion does occur at some rate due to natural processes that are not preventable, erosion is occurring at all time high rates due to exacerbation by anthropogenic agents.

Humans are increasing the rate of soil erosion worldwide! However there are many ways that we can work to reduce soil erosion rates. The first step is understanding the problem.

From National Geographic (2007)

(9) European Soil Portal

"Soil Data and Information Systems." European Soil Portal: Joint Research Centre. http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/. 12 March. 2013.

(5) University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources

O'Geen, Anthony & Schwankl, Lawrence. "Understanding Soil Erosion in Irrigated Agriculture." University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Publication 8196. 1-5. Print.