ENVB 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Soil Retrogression And Degradation, Gully, Downhill Creep
Document Summary
Soil degradation affects the soil in terms of crop growth, microbial population, water cycling and contamination. It contributes to reduced systems reduced land productivity + increased risk of flooding. If severely damaged, it is costly to reclaim the soil and sometimes even impossible (source of never ending cycles of problems for cultivators in poor regions: no money to improve the soil). However, a(cid:374)y loss of soil is u(cid:374)sustai(cid:374)able: the (cid:862)tolerable soil loss(cid:863) is (cid:374)ot appropriate to (cid:373)easure the damages. If degraded, the soil no longer provides a range of ecosystems. In the prairies, not a lot of till/plowing not a lot of soil loss. The more intense the rainstorm, the more water erodes the soil (high power of a single drop) Sheet erosion: uniform/thin layer of soil is removed on top. It is the richest part of the soil. Hard to identify this type of erosion. Rill erosion: small slope water concentrates in a few small channels to flow down.