:Adam Baumeister

Mitigation and Soil Erosion

ESS 315, Winter 2010

Erosion:• Is the natural process

of soil being moved from one place and deposited in another.

• Is radically expedited by humanity’s use of land.

• Occurs primarily due to wind or water movement, or agricultural practices.

Terracing:

• Terraced bean fields in Iowa

•Terraced rice paddies in Yunnan Province, China

A method of leveling sections of hillside for cultivation of agriculture

Designed as a method to make steep areas arable, as well as retain valuable topsoil from water erosion by slowing down the movement speed of the water from one step to another.

• Many terrace designs include either a small lip at the edge or a band of native vegetation on lower gradient slopes.

•Sa Pa, Vietnam

Strip Cropping:

•Strip Cropping in Kansas

•Alternation of several kinds of crops with differing root, stalk, growth density, and cover foliage properties.

•Helps restrict rapid flow of water at the surface as well as reduce surface level wind which would carry tilled or dry topsoil away.

Crop Rotation:• A system of annually altering the uses of sections of land to maintain the quality of the soil and its nutrients.

Conservation Tillage:

• Typically Involves a combination of disturbing less soil during planting and leaving biomatter from the previous harvest as cover.

•Helps prevent wind and water movement from carrying away topsoil.

In Conclusion:•Many of these techniques are used in tandem to prevent erosion from occurring, to protect the quality of the soil to increase production, and reduce the amount of chemicals added to protect the local water quality.

Sources:

• All photos selected from Creative Commons files available on http://images.google.com

• Erosion information: http://soilerosion.net/

• Terracing information: http://science.jrank.org/pages/6770/Terracing.html

• Crop Rotation information: http://www.baap.lt/codes_gap/lithuania/chapter_2.htm

• Strip Cropping/wind breaks: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1763.pdf

• Conservation Tillage: http://www.ncsu.edu/sustainable/tillage/tillage.html