Landscape Maintenance - Land Erosion
About Land Erosion
Overview
| Land erosion occurs all over the world. It is a natural process which is defined as the gradual wearing away of land and soil by water, wind and ice melting. Land erosion affects our residential properties, forests, ocean beds, rural land, vegetation and crops. Many different land erosion controlling systems and prevention products are available to assist with the prevention and conservation of land erosion. It is important to prevent and control land erosion so that we preserve soil and land throughout the world even if it’s just a small case of soil erosion. |
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Land erosion takes away the most fertile land and soil making it difficult to maintain plants, crops and vegetation. If land erosion is not prevented or controlled it could take over the land property and prevent these elements from growing healthy. Farmers are affected by land erosion because they are unable to grow fruits and vegetables healthily. There are many different types of land erosion occurrences, but beneficially they can be prevented and controlled. |
Types of Land Erosion
Gully Erosion
| The consequences of gully erosion causes land to be fully dissected and make it hard to access the land. The damaged cause by gully erosion is severe because small ditches and holes are formed in the land and soil surface. Gully erosion occurs when fast streamed water caused by heavy rainfall or excessive watering scours along the land causing trenches and channels as deep as 0.5 meters deep. Gully erosion can be reduced by controlling methods. The runoff water should be contained firstly by maintaining a catchments area for the water to be caught in such as; a small dam or water tank. |
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Sheet and Rill Land Erosion
Sheet and rill land erosion is caused by raindrops hitting the surface of land and strips the land of soil. The affects are never ending and some of them include:
- Loss of productive soil.
- Reduced plant growth
- Catchments water quality poor cause the stored water to be infested.
- Eroded soil frequently causing damages.
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A controlling method for this type of land erosion is maintaining good vegetative and crop cover. If the land disturbance is minimized it will also prevent sheet and rill land erosion. Organic materials will also help control this type of land erosion because it will protect the land’s soiled surface.
Tunnel Land Erosion
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Tunnel land erosion is caused when the scouring of water through underground pipes and tunnels such as animal burrows, makes the subsoil's susceptible. Excessive quantities of water move through the soil and the water concentrates on running through cracks and holes causing tunnel land erosion. Tunnel erosion causes land to be affected immensely with examples such as disruption of soil, loss of productive capacity in the soil, dispersed clay particles move through the flowing streams of water and shift into other areas such as dams, water tanks and runoff areas. If the land has a well maintained vegetation cover it will prevent the land from being affected. Soil conditioners will also decrease the chance of tunnel erosion occurring. |
If land erosion is prevented or controled it will help conserve the precious land we have and also the soil.
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