Soil Erosion Essay

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The Three Causes Of Soil Erosion Soil is a dynamic terrestrial system involving three components: mineral particles, detritus, and soil organisms feeding on the detritus (Boorse, Wright 2011). Erosion is the process of soil particles being carried away by wind or water. Erosion also moves the smaller particles first and hence degrades the soil to a coarse, sandier, and stonier texture (Boorse, Wright 2011).Soil erosion is the loss of soil caused by particles being carried away by wind or water (Boorse, Wright 2011). There are three major practices that expose soil to erosion and it leads to soil degradation which is overcultivation, overgrazing, and deforestation. Overcultivation is the first type of soil erosion and traditionally, the first step in growing crops has been plowing to control weeds. The soil is than exposed to wind and water erosion, the soil may remain bare for a considerate time after planting and again after harvest. When growing crops and cultivating them so rapidly the soil doesn’t have time to regenerate, this than lead to the decline of soil productivity and quality. Splash erosion destroys the soil aggregate structure and seals the surface so that aeration and infiltration are decreased. The tractor weight that comes from plowing can cause the soil to become impacted; plowing also accelerates evaporative water loss. The United States came up with a way to correct the overcultivation by using the No-till agriculture. The no-till agriculture is the farming practice in which weeds are killed with chemicals (or other means) and seeds are planted and grown without resorting to plowing or cultivation. The practice is highly effective in reducing soil erosion (Boorse, Wright 2011). The no-till agriculture is done into two steps, first step the field is sprayed with herbicide to kill weeds, second step then a planting apparatus is

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