TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY

Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences (IAAS)

Paklihawa Campus, Rupandehi, Nepal

AN ASSIGNMENT ON

"CONSEQUENCES OF SOIL EROSION”

Submitted To:
Mrs. Madhavi Parajuli
Course Lecturer
Department of soil Science
IAAS, Paklihawa Campus, Rupandehi

Submitted By:
Agrim Dhital
Roll No: 04 (Four)
B.Sc.Ag. 5th Smemester
IAAS, Paklihawa Campus, Rupandehi
INTRODUCTION
Soil erosion is a naturally occurring process that affects all landforms. In
agriculture, soil erosion refers to the wearing a way of a field’s top soil by the
natural physical forces of water and wind or through forces associated with
farming activities such as tillage. The harmful effects of the removal of the
topmost layer of the soil just do not end here. When the top layer is removed, the
soil’s ability to store water and other nutrients are reduced. It also exposes the
subsoil, which is the second layer of the soil. This subsoil has very poor physical
and chemical properties. The crops that were newly planted are washed off along
with the soil.

OBJECTIVES

 To know about the soil erosion processes.

 To be familiar with different consequences of soil erosion.

 To know about effects of soil erosion.

METHODOLOGY

To achieve the objectives, we consult different reports, journals, books and lecture
notes to collect information related consequences of soil erosion. Also information
is collected by group discussion.

DISCUSSION

Soil erosion is caused by some factors. We cannot just blame human activities for
the carrying away of soil particles. There are many natural reasons that lead to soil
erosions. Factors like glaciers, surface runoffs, river and stream waters, lightning,
exfoliation of rocks and several such factors lead to the erosion of soil. But well,
humans cannot be left out completely. Around 40-50% of the soil erosion on earth
is caused by humans and their irresponsible behaviors. Deforestation, improper
farming techniques, intensive agriculture, construction of roads, bridges and dams
all lead to soil erosion.

All soils suffer from erosion but some are more vulnerable than others. Soils with
dispersible sub soils for example are subjected for serious erosion by tunneling and
gully formation. Understanding the type of soil and how prone it is to erosion can
help avoid problem in agriculture and on waterways and infrastructure. Soil
erosion removes valuable top soil which is the most productive part of the soil
profile for agriculture purposes. The loss of the top soil results in lower yield and
higher production loss.  When the top soil is gone, erosion can cause rills and
gullies that make the cultivation of the padlocks impossible. Major consequences
of soil erosion can be discussed below:-

1) Fertility loss and land degradation:

The direct and primary effect of soil erosion is soil loss and nutrient leaching
resulting in reduction of land productivity. In Nepal, a soil loss of 20 tons/ha/year
removes 300 kg of organic matter. 15 kg of Nitrogen, 20 kg of phosphorus and 40
kg of potassium.

2) Floods, landslides, and natural hazard:

There is an increasing trend of annual floods, causing damages of crops, property
and lives in Nepal. Eventually, as the vicious circle of erosion proceeds, less water
percolates into the soil to feed underground water supplies. Springs, marshes and
streams dry up more quickly and, like this lead no further erosion. Large sum of
money is spent every year on hills to keep the roads open in Nepal.

3) Pollution:
Sediment, as a pollutant has a two-fold effect on environment .it depletes the land
resource form which it is entrained and deposited .it may also acts as scavenger,
serving other pollutant, such as agriculture fertilizers and pesticides, from solution
and depositing them in stream channels or reservoirs. Sediments is the greatest
water pollutant by volume .it kills game fish by clogging their gills, and it covers
their spawning beds. It interferes with water purification and sewage treatments.
Sediment is one of the significant transport mechanisms, for most of the nutrients
and specially the N and P that gets into water. These added nutrients may increase
aquatic productivity resulting in eutrophication. It may also carry pesticides,
pathogenic bacteria from plant and animal wastes. 

4) Sedimentation on reservoir, river and agricultural land:

A number of major problems occur when the sediment-laden rivers reach a lake or
reservoir. Even, in Nepal, the life span of the Kulekhani Reservoir in central Nepal
has been reduced to half of the targeted design and one quarter of the expected life-
span due to serious soil erosion. The intense rainfall in 1933 alone resulted in
sedimentation of 5.12 million cubic meters which is 6% of the designed storage
capacity of the reservoir and about 60 times higher than the expected annual
sedimentation. Sediment when deposited on agriculture field destroys the land and
reduces the potentiality for crop production. Hectares of fertile land in Terai region
of Nepal is damaged by sediment deposition in rainy season.
5) Socio-economic consequences:
Soil and water losses and poverty are reciprocal in terms of cause and effect. A
very popular proverb “poor soil and poor people go together” also signifies the
relation. There is another belief that “more poverty and more improper
reclamation will cause more soil erosion and again more soil erosion will cause
more improper reclamation and more poverty.” Man generally abuses his
resources, natural or artificial, when to live under an adverse economic pressure.
Sometimes the stimulus is provided by the emotion of greed. Such pressure and
emotion are passed onto the land. Depletion and erosion are initiated. The cycle
then becomes like spiral the greater the abuse, the greater the deterioration of
resources, the lower the yields and the greater the poverty. Therefore soil erosion is
directly related with environment .So we use the soil conservation method to
protect environment.

6) On-site consequences:
The main on-site impact of soil erosion is the reduction in soil quality which
results from the loss of the nutrient-rich upper layers of the soil, and the reduced
water-holding capacity of many eroded soils. In affluent areas of the world,
accelerated water erosion’s on-site effects upon agricultural soils can be mitigated
by increased use of artificial fertilizers; however this is not an option for much of
the earth’s population. The soil left behind usually has lower water-holding and
cation-exchange capacities less biological activity, and a reduced capacity to
supply nutrients for plant growth.
 Fig: On-site consequences of soil erosion observed in citrus orchard
7) Off-site consequences:
The above mentioned points i.e. sedimentation, pollution, flood, can be included
under off-site consequences.

Fig: Off-site consequences of soil erosion

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Soil erosion is a naturally occurring process that affects all landforms. In
agriculture, soil erosion refers to the wearing away of a field's topsoil by the
natural physical forces of water and wind or through forces associated with
farming activities such as tillage. Soil compaction, low organic matter, fertility
loss, loss of soil structure, floods and natural hazards, poor internal drainage,
salinization and soil acidity problems are consequences of soil erosion.
REFERENCES:

1.Hudson, N. Soil Conservation. B.T. Batsford. Limited, Fitzhardinge Street London.

2.Brady, N.C. and Well, R.R. The Nature And Properties Of Soil. Pearson Education
(Singapore) Pvt. Ltd, Indian Branch, Patparganj, Delhi, India.

3.Mahdi Al-Kaisi. “Soil erosion: An agricultural production challenge” ( Available

on :http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/icm/2000/7-24-2000/erosion.html )

4.Local Institutions and Livelihoods: Guidelines for Analysis. Food and

Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Rome, Italy.

5.G/ACTA. 2010. Système de notation (Scoring) pour l’évaluation visuelle de

l’érosion par l’équipe LADA-Tunisie (Scoring system for visual assessment of soil
erosion). Working document by LADA-Tunisia team. May 2010.