Soil Erosion Types, Causes, and Potential Solutions

Mitigating the issue of soil erosion worldwide requires an understanding of the causes, the different types of erosion, their relative impacts, as well as the potential solutions.

The University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources describes soil erosion as a three-step process beginning with detachment of soil, transportation of the soil particles, and deposition at a new location.

The UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources notes that the three main types of water-induced soil erosion are sheet, rill, and gully. The figure below describes these three types of water-induced soil erosion along with their causes, and potential solutions. The relative sizes of the images show the common each type of erosion is relative to the others:

Novel Figure created by Brad Church using information from University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Publication 8196 "Understanding Soil Erosion in Irrigated Agriculture"



(3) Soil erosion and agricultural sustainability

Montgomery, David R. "Soil erosion and agricultural sustainability." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Volume 104 Number 33. 13268-13272. Print. 7 July. 2011.