Soil Extinction

What is Soil?
• Soil is a thin covering over the land consisting of a mixture of minerals,
organic material, living organisms, air and water that together support the
growth of plant life.
• Several factors contribute to the formation of soil from the parent material.
This includes mechanical weathering of rocks due to temperature changes and
abrasion, wind, moving water, glaciers, chemical weathering activities and
lichens.
• Climate and time are also important in the development of soils. Extremely dry
or cold climates develop soils very slowly while humid and warm climates
develop them more rapidly.
• Under ideal climatic conditions soft parent material may develop into a
centimeter of soil within 15 years. Under poor climatic conditions a hard parent
material may require hundreds of years to develop into soil.
Soil Profile
What is Soil Degradation?
• Soil degradation is the loss of land’s production capacity in
terms of loss of soil fertility, soil biodiversity, and
degradation.
• Soil degradation causes include agricultural, industrial, and
commercial pollution; loss of arable land due to urban
expansion, overgrazing, and unsustainable agricultural
practices; and long-term climatic changes.
• Soil degradation, which contributes to 36–75 billion tons of
land depletion every year and freshwater shortages,
threatens the global food supply.
Causes of soil degradation
• Soil Erosion: Soil erosion can be defined as the movement of surface litter and topsoil from one place to
another. While erosion is a natural process often caused by wind and flowing water it is greatly accelerated by
human activities such as farming, construction, overgrazing by livestock, burning of grass cover and
deforestation. For one inch of topsoil to be formed it normally requires 200-1000 years depending upon
the climate and soil type. Thus if the topsoil erodes faster than it is formed the soil becomes a non-
renewable resource.
• Excess use of fertilizers: Approximately 25 percent of the world’s crop yield is estimated to be directly
attributed to the use of chemical fertilizers. The use of chemical fertilizes has increased significantly over the
last few decades and is expected to rise even higher.
• Excess salts and water: Irrigated lands can produce crop yields much higher than those that only use rainwater.
However this has its own set of ill effects. Irrigation water contains dissolved salts and in dry climates much of
the water in the saline solution evaporates leaving its salts such as sodium chloride in the topsoil. The
accumulation of these salts is called salinization, which can stunt plant growth, lower yields and eventually kill
the crop and render the land useless for agriculture. These salts can be flushed out of the soil by using more
water. This practice however increases the cost of crop production and also wastes enormous amounts of water.
Flushing salts can also make the downstream irrigation water saltier. Another problem with irrigation is
water logging. This occurs when large amounts of water is used to leach the salts deeper into the soil.
However if the drainage is poor this water accumulates underground gradually raising the water table.
The roots of the plants then get enveloped in this saline water and eventually die.
Functions of Regulation and/or Support
Recharge of aquifers, control, and
storage of water
Water purification, assimilation, and
recycling of pollutants
Regulation of floods
Examples of Negative Impacts
Compaction, sealing, increased surface runoff, and soil erosion decrease
water infiltration for the recomposition of aquifers.
Reduced water infiltration and loss of colloidal fractions of the soil
diminish its adsorption capacity, compromising potential assimilation
and recycling of nutrients and contaminants.
Soil compaction and sealing reduce infiltration and increase surface
runoff, which favors the formation of flooded areas. In addition, soil
erosion and sedimentation of river courses favors the formation of
floods during pluvial episodes

Erosion and contamination compromise the use of soil as a refuge,

nursery and natural habitat by living organisms such as ants,
Provide refuge, nurseries, and habitats
earthworms, armadillos, and owls. In addition, soil compaction and
for organisms
sealing modify surface and subsurface hydrodynamics, water availability
and temperature, which hampers soil use by certain living organisms

Loss of soil by erosion, notably ravines and gullies, compromises the

stability of engineering works such as houses, buildings, and roads. In
Support for engineering construction specific circumstances, the soil may undermine abruptly, compromising
not only engineering works, but also human lives
Functions of Regulation and/or Support
Support for bacterial culture for antibiotics
production
Examples of Negative Impacts
Loss or diminution of soil biodiversity, as well as salinization and
contamination, may make it unfeasible for use as a culture
medium for the development of bacteria for the production of
antibiotics

Accentuated loss of soil due to erosion can compromise the use

Support for raising livestock of an area for raising livestock by the appearance of ravines and
gullies or by the commitment of buildings to house animals.

Nutrient cycling Loss of micro- and macroorganisms, as well as colloidal fractions,

diminishes the ability of soil to cycle nutrients.

Loss of soil and its micro- and macroflora locally reduces the
potential for evapotranspiration; aerosols, which act as cloud
formers and condensation nuclei, alter the albedo and can
Climate regulation contribute to increasing temperature. In wetlands and coastal
plains, for example, organic soils in the process of degradation
can release gases such as methane and carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere, altering the equilibrium of the climate.
Functions of Provision and Information,
Culture, Leisure, and Religion Examples of Negative Impacts
Natural production of food fiber and
Compaction, sealing, leaching, salinization, erosion, and the loss of colloidal
medicines; production of food fiber,
fractions decrease soil fertility, which leads to the reduction or stagnation of
medicines, and energy resources in cultivated
natural production and crop productivity.
areas

Materials for ornaments, handicrafts and Exacerbated exploitation of soil materials may deplete the source of materials,
household utensils, and miscellaneous causing severe erosive processes such as gullies, silting of watercourses, and
construction contamination.

Loss or diminution of soil biodiversity, as well as its salinization or contamination,

Genetic resources and materials for may make its use for obtaining genetic, pharmaceutic, and cosmetic resources,
pharmaceuticals and cosmetics such as fungi, bacteria, clay compounds, salt, and other functional groups of
organic matter, unfeasible.

Surface erosion and geochemistry can destroy environmental records important

Paleoenvironmental and cultural heritage
for understanding paleoscenarios, landscape dynamics, and the history of
information
mankind.

Loss of soil due to erosion, flooding, and/or contamination reduces areas that
Recreation/leisure, educational activities, and would be useful for educational, recreational, and religious activities. In addition,
religious rituals specific spaces considered sacred may cease to exist, which would completely
remove anthropological relationships.
 What is Soil Extinction?
• Loss of Organic content from the soil, which makes it to turn in to
sand.
• Organic content is the living part of the soil that comes from humus.
Anything alive or was once alive turns into humus over time. In
agricultural lands, it comes from the litter of plants, the leaves and
everything else, and animal droppings.
• Soil needs to be covered under vegetation, whatever kind – plants,
trees, shrubs, etc.
• But in today’s agricultural practices, most of the agricultural lands have
almost no vegetation.
• Every time we have a harvest, in a way we take soil and organic content
out of the land. But there’s nothing replenishing the soil. Even after
harvest, the land is kept bare and exposed most of the time.
• This leads to Soil extinction- which means, the soil is losing its organic
content and is turning into sand.
• Global scale soil extinction is occurring.
• Soil needs at least 3-6% organic content.
• In India, 62% of India’s soil has an organic content of less than 0.5%.
• In Europe, 75% of soil has an organic content of less than 2%.
• 73% of cropland has been degraded in the Middle East and North
Africa.
• The United States has lost 50% of its topsoil.
• Worldwide, we have lost an astounding 52% of agricultural soils –
that’s over half the cultivable soil on the planet and with the way we are
going, 90% of earth’s soil could be lost in the next 30 years.
What Soil Extiniction can lead to??
• Severe Food & Nutrition Crisis
• Incredible Loss of Life in Soil
• Overheating of our Planet
• Water Scarcity, Droughts & Floods
• Conflicts and Mass Migrations
If soil is revived, if it has at least 3-6% organic content, we can
mitigate the six major global issues that we are facing today:
● We can secure nutritious food for all.
● Biodiversity, that is life in the soil, can thrive.
● Reduction in global warming which can make our planet so much
cooler.
● We can ensure that water cycles get back in balance and water is
available to all.
● The livelihood of our farmers can be significantly enhanced.
Mitigations:
• Proper soil conservation measures
• Prevent Soil erosion
• Prevent excessive use of fertilizers and pesticide
• Afforestation
• Sustainable Agriculture

What more can you think of??