Recreational Activities Can Cause an Increase in Erosion Rates.

The agents of soil erosion are the same as the agents of all types of erosion: water, current of air, water ice, or gravity. Running h2o is the leading cause of soil erosion, considering water is abundant and has a lot of power. Wind is as well a leading cause of soil erosion because wind can pick up soil and accident it far away.

Activities that remove vegetation, disturb the ground, or allow the ground to dry are activities that increase erosion. What are some human activities that increase the likelihood that soil will be eroded?

Farming

Agronomics is probably the nearly meaning activity that accelerates soil erosion because of the amount of land that is farmed and how much farming practices disturb the ground (Figure 1). Farmers remove native vegetation and so turn the land to constitute new seeds. Because most crops abound simply in spring and summertime, the state lies fallow during the winter. Of class, winter is likewise the stormy season in many locations, so current of air and rain are available to wash soil abroad. Tractor tires make deep grooves, which are natural pathways for water. Fine soil is blown away by wind.

The soil that is nearly likely to erode is the nutrient-rich topsoil, which degrades the farmland.

Figure 1. (a) The bare areas of farmland are especially vulnerable to erosion. (b) Slash-and-burn agronomics leaves land open for soil erosion and is i of the leading causes of soil erosion in the globe.

Grazing

Grazing animals (Figure ii) wander over large areas of pasture or natural grasslands eating grasses and shrubs. Grazers betrayal soil by removing the plant comprehend for an expanse. They also churn up the basis with their hooves. If too many animals graze the same country surface area, the animals' hooves pull plants out by their roots. A state is overgrazed if too many animals are living there.

Grazing animals can cause erosion if they are allowed to overgraze and remove too much or all of the vegetation in a pasture.

Logging and Mining

Effigy 3. Logging exposes big areas of country to erosion.

Logging removes trees that protect the ground from soil erosion. The tree roots hold the soil together and the tree canopy protects the soil from hard falling rain. Logging results in the loss of leaf litter, or dead leaves, bark, and branches on the forest flooring. Leaf litter plays an of import role in protecting woods soils from erosion (Figure 3).

Much of the world's original forests have been logged. Many of the tropical forests that remain are currently the site of logging because N America and Europe accept already harvested many of their trees (Figure 4). Soils eroded from logged forests clog rivers and lakes, make full estuaries, and coffin coral reefs.

Figure 4. Deforested swatches in Brazil show up equally gray amid the bright red tropical rainforest.

Surface mining disturbs the country (Figure v) and leaves the soil vulnerable to erosion.

Effigy 5. (a) Disturbed land at a coal mine pit in Germany. (b) This coal mine in W Virginia covers more than than 10,000 acres (15.six square miles). Some of the exposed footing is being reclaimed by planting trees.

Construction

Constructing buildings and roads churns upward the basis and exposes soil to erosion. In some locations, native landscapes, such as wood and grassland, are cleared, exposing the surface to erosion (in some locations the country that volition be built on is farmland). Near structure sites, dirt, picked upwardly by the current of air, is often in the air. Completed construction can also contribute to erosion (Figure 6).

Effigy 6. Urban areas and parking lots issue in less water entering the ground. H2o runs off the parking lot onto nearby lands and speeds upwards erosion in those areas.

Recreational Activities

Recreational activities may advance soil erosion. Off-road vehicles disturb the landscape and the surface area eventually develops bare spots where no plants can grow. In some delicate habitats, even hikers' boots tin can disturb the ground, so it'southward important to stay on the trail (Figure 7).

Figure vii. (a) ATVs churn upwards the soil, accelerating erosion. (b) Hiking trails may become eroded.

Soil erosion is every bit natural as any other blazon of erosion, only human being activities have greatly accelerated soil erosion. In some locations soil erosion may occur about 10 times faster than its natural rate. Since Europeans settled in N America, about one-3rd of the topsoil in the area that is now the United States has eroded away.

Summary

• Although soil erosion is a natural process, human activities have greatly accelerated it.
• The agents of soil erosion are the same as of other types of erosion: water, ice, current of air, and gravity.
• Soil erosion is more than likely where the ground has been disturbed past agriculture, grazing animals, logging, mining, construction, and recreational activities.

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Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/geo/chapter/reading-causes-of-soil-erosion/

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