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ARS Home » Midwest Area » West Lafayette, Indiana » National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #79797
Title: METHODOLOGIES FOR ASSESSMENT OF SOIL DEGRADATION DUE TO WATER EROSION

Author
item Laflen, John
item ROOSE, ERIC - MONTPELLIER, FRANCE

Submitted to: Advances in Soil Science
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/23/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Soil degradation due to water erosion is a serious threat to the quality of the soil, land, and water resources upon which man depends for his sustenance. Pimental et al. estimated world-wide costs of soil erosion to be about four hundred billion dollars per year, more than $70 per person per year. El-Swaify summarizing a recent study indicated that water erosion had accounted for about 55 percent of the almost two billion ha of degraded soils in the world. There is no region of the globe where soil degradation due to water erosion is not a threat to the long-term sustainability of mankind. In this chapter, methods for estimating the erosion due to rill and channel processes are described and their effect on soil degradation. Basic erosion principles and erosion control techniques are discussed.