Several erosive agents affect the soil structure and composition. Selecting sandstone, 100cm/yr precipitation, 20ÂşC, and 50% vegetation cover, there is 45% of eroded rock. The general landscape appearance changes little.
Erosion
Erosion is the process of fertile soil loss.
It is due to several external agents that damage the ground and drag the exposed material from the superficial layer of the earth.
Erosive agents
Some of the erosive agents are water, wind, ice, gravity, or animal trampling.
Phases
Three main phases compose the erosion process
a) particles landslide
b) transport of superficial free particles
c) deposit/sedimentation.
Soil erosion leads to its degradation.
Since its regeneration is extremely slow, erosion produces several negative events that lead to soil loss as a non-renewable natural resource.
Vegetation cover
All the erosive agents act together modifying the soil composition, shape, and structure. The loss of plant cover increases, even more, the erosive effects.
Soil vegetation cover reduces erosion because the aerial part of the plant protects the surface, while roots protect the ground structure and retain water.
The less vegetation cover there is, the more exposed the soil is, and the more severe effects the erosive agents cause.
In the exposed example, we have many variables to control and analyze their effect on soil erosion. Before playing the simulation, I chose the followings
Stones ⇒ sandstone Precipitation ⇒ 100 cm/yrTemperature ⇒20 ºCVegetation cover ⇒ 50%
Under these conditions, after 20,000 years there was 0.42 kmÂł of eroded rock.
The general aspect of the landscape changed very little, suggesting that erosion occurs slowly.
Probably, if we change the values of the variables, we will observe a sharper change. For instance, if we take the vegetable cover to less than 20% and increase the levels of precipitation and temperature, we will observe a faster erosion process and a wider affected area.
You can learn more about erosion at
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