what is soil erosion and its types

Soil Erosion :

Soil erosion is defined as the transportation and movement of detached soil particles from their original location to another place through the action of wind waters and living organisms. Active soil erosion  by water is prevalent/over 140 million hectares resulting in a loss of 16.35 tons of fertile soil/hac containing about 5.53 million tons of NPK every year:
Types of soil erosion –

1 Natural  erosion    2 Artificial erosion

1 Natural erosion  – It takes place due to wind water, pressure, etc.

Erosion by water: It has 5 types

• Splash erosion– It is the initial stage of water erosion, splash, erosion results from soil splash caused by, the impact of falling rain drops.
• Sheet erosion – The removal of a thin relatively uniform layer of soil particles. This erosion is usually prolonged and the farmer is not conscious of its existence. it is known as invisible erosion.
• Rill erosion– This is the next stage of sheet erosion where runoff cuts the surface into small finger-sized channels. That can be leveled completely by general cultivation practices. It takes place in the areas having 4-5% slope.
• Gully erosion– Gully erosion represents a more severe stage of rill erosion. It begins at the lower end of the slope and works up till it creates a gully head with a sudden or sleep fall. Gully erosion is the removal of soil by running water with the formation of channels that cannot be leveled or erased by normal cultivation practices.

Wind Erosion :
Stages of wind erosion

1Surface creeping

2 Saltation

3 Suspension

1. Surface creeping:- Surface creeping is the rolling or sliding of large soil particles (0.5-1.5mm) along the ground surface. They are too heavy to be lifted by wind.
2. Saltation:- Saltation is the process of soil movement in a series of bounces or jumps. Soil particles that have a size of 0.05=0.5 mm are moved by the pressure of wind.
3. Suspension: – Suspension refers to the floating, of small-sized particles in the air. they can be moved thousands of km. (less than 0.05mm)

Types of wind erosion

Afflation –  Fine soil particles of soil ( silt, clay ) are moved by the pressure of wind and collected at another place.

Efflusi0n – Heavy soil particles are moved by surface creeping and light particles are moved by Saltation. This type of erosion is mainly found in fine Sand, Silty, and Calcareous soil.

Detrusion – This is found i n field of undulated ridge and new arable land. The particles are falling and collected in furrows.

Aberration – It is found in Cloddy soil. Soil particles are detached from clods and transported by Saltation.

2 Human or Artificial erosion– It takes place by human activities like deforestation, and dam construction.

Control of soil erosion (soil conservation)-
Following practices should be adopted to control soil erosion.

• Use of Cover crops- These crops cover the soil with vegetation and help to control soil erosion e.g. Green gram, Black gram, Soybean, and Cowpea.
• Erosion permitting crops should not be grown cg. Maize, Cotton, Tobacco.
• Contour farming- When the slope of the land is more (8.12%) contour farming should be adopted to control soil erosion.
  Contour farming is carrying out farming operations (viz. plowing planting and cultivation) across the slope of the land. The length of the contour is  1600-1800 feet and the respective distance between the 2 contours is  20 feet.
• Stripe farming-In stripe farming,   two or more crops are grown simultaneously in strips. it is a system of growing different crops in alternating strips in such a way that they serve as vegetative barriers in controlling erosion and runoff.

Windbreak- To protect soil from wind erosion, strips of the tree are planted in the northwest direction of the field which is called windbreak. When shrubs are grown with trees in strips it is called a shelter belt.
The trees are grown in various shapes (Pyramidal, Square, Rectangular) but the pyramidal shape is the best. In which outer trees are smaller and inner trees are longer, plant-to-plant distance is 4-8  feet row distance is 2-3 meters and the total width of the stripe is  50-100, Tamarind, Rosewood, Neem, Acacia, Serum, Karan Wild jaw, Eucalyptus, Wild Jujube, Juliflora, Duodenum, etc.