What Is Soil Erosion?

Soil erosion is a term for soil either gradually being taken from the land, or very suddenly being washed away or blown away. The gradual erosion of soil from the land is something which is a natural process. Water and wind naturally remove soil from the land, but usually at a rate which is the same as soil is formed, so some soil is taken away but this is replaced.
Soil erosion which is sudden has a negative impact on the land. Sudden erosion is caused by extreme rainfall literally washing away soil, rivers bursting their banks and taking soil with them to the sea or by tsunamis. tornadoes etc. When this happens then the soil is not replenished and the land is less productive so crops do not grow as well.
Soil contains many nutrients which are beneficial to crops or to stock feeding off the land, so the land cannot immediately recover after widescale erosion has occurred.
There are fears that soil erosion will become much more widespread as a result of extremes of weather caused by global warming.

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