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Learn about soil erosion, the process of soil degradation caused by water, wind, or human activities. Find out the different types of soil erosion, such as raindrop, sheet, rill, gully, and stream bank erosion, and their causes and effects.
- Splash Erosion. Splash erosion starts with a fall of rain, which might be why it’s sometimes called raindrop erosion. As Oklahoma State University explains, this type of erosion occurs when a raindrop hits the soil and dislodges particles of soil, splashing them up and away.
- Sheet Erosion. If rainwater begins to move the soil that’s been loosened by splash erosion, the erosion of the soil progresses to a new stage. It’s now called sheet erosion.
- Rill Erosion. Picture a sandbox after a child has trailed their fingertips through it. While the scale tends to be a bit bigger than that, and it only expands with more time and water, that’s the basic effect that rill erosion has on the land.
- Gully Erosion. If rills aren’t tended to, the erosion will continue. Eventually, the narrow strips of land separating the multitude of rills will be swept away, leaving one larger scar behind.
Rainfall, and the surface runoff which may result from rainfall, produces four main types of soil erosion: splash erosion, sheet erosion, rill erosion, and gully erosion.
The most common types of soil erosion are splash erosion, sheet erosion, rill erosion, gully erosion, tunnel erosion, bank erosion, wind erosion, glacial erosion, thermal erosion, chemical erosion, biological erosion, and saltwater erosion.
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Erosion requires three main steps: detachment, transport, and deposition. We separate erosion into two major categories by the force that transports the soil particle. Detachment. Not all soils or soil particles are equally susceptible to erosion. Sand may be easy to pick up, but is heavier to carry, so tends to stay closer to the source.
Apr 23, 2024 · Rainfall produces four types of soil erosion: splash erosion, sheet erosion, rill erosion, and gully erosion. Splash erosion describes the impact of a falling raindrop, which can scatter tiny soil particles as far as 0.6 meters (two feet). Sheet erosion describes erosion caused by runoff.