Erosion

Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids (sediment, soil, rock and other particles) in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere. It usually occurs due to transport by wind, water, or ice; by down-slope creep of soil and other material under the force of gravity; or by living organisms, such as burrowing animals, in the case of bioerosion

Causes:
*The biological factors include ground cover from vegetation or lack thereof, the type of organisms inhabiting the area, and the land use.
*In general, given similar vegetation and ecosystems, areas with high-intensity precipitation, more frequent rainfall, more wind, or more storms are expected to have more erosion.
*Heavy grazing can reduce vegetation enough to increase erosion. Changes in the kind of vegetation in an area can also affect erosion rates.
*One of the main causes of erosive soil loss in the year 2006 is the result of slash and burn treatment of tropical forest. When the total ground surface is stripped of vegetation and then seared of all living organisms, the upper soils are vulnerable to both wind and water erosion

Effects:
*Approximately 40% of the world's agricultural land is seriously degraded
*Sheet erosion is the detachment of soil particles by raindrop impact and their removal downslope by water flowing overland as a sheet instead of in definite channels or rills. The impact of the raindrop breaks apart the soil aggregate. Particles of clay, silt and sand fill the soil pores and reduce infiltration. After the surface pores are filled with sand, silt or clay, overland surface flow of water begins due to the lowering of infiltration rates
*Rill erosion refers to the development of small, ephemeral concentrated flow paths, which function as both sediment source and sediment delivery systems for erosion on hillslopes. Generally, where water erosion rates on disturbed upland areas are greatest, rills are active. Flow depths in rills are typically on the order of a few centimeters or less and slopes may be quite steep. These conditions constitute a very different hydraulic environment than typically found in channels of streams and river
*Gully erosion, also called ephemeral gully erosion, occurs when water flows in narrow channels during or immediately after heavy rains or melting snow. This is particularly noticeable in the formation of hollow ways, where, prior to being tarmacked, an old rural road has over many years become significantly lower than the surrounding fields. A gully is sufficiently deep that it would not be routinely destroyed by tillage operations, whereas rill erosion is smoothed by ordinary farm tillage. The narrow channels, or gullies, may be of considerable depth, ranging from 1 to 2 feet (0.61 m) to as much as 75 to 100 feet (30 m). Gully erosion is not accounted for in the revised universal soil loss equation.

Techniques used to combat erosion:
*Wind Breakes
*Ground coverage with branches or grass or any organic material
*Strone baskets places against slopes
*stream bank protection
*correct farming methods used.

Personal experience:
We started a anti-erosion project on a piece of degraded and eroded veldt in the springbok flats
Covering the ground with branches and old grass, pitting holes into the ground and
dispersing seeds.