Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » West Lafayette, Indiana » National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #378693
Research Project: Conservation Practice Impacts on Water Quality at Field and Watershed Scales

Location: National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory

Title: Erosion

Author
item Flanagan, Dennis

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/20/2019
Publication Date: 7/30/2020
Citation: Flanagan, D.C. 2020. In: Fath, B. D., and Jorgensen, S. E., editors: Environmental Management Handbook, 2nd Edition. Vol. 3. Managing Soils and Terrestrial Systems. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida. pp. 605-610.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Erosion is a natural process and is a critical factor in soil formation from rock parent material. However, once productive agricultural soils have been formed over periods of thousands or millions of years, erosion of the soil material is then usually very low or negligible because of the impacts of protective natural plant and residue cover. Human activities are responsible for greatly accelerating erosion rates, usually by reducing or eliminating plant and residue cover. This exposes the soil to wind and water erosive forces, weakening the soil cohesive forces by tillage disturbance, and increasing the erosive agents, particularly by activities that increase surface runoff.