ON

Submitted to: - Pankaj Jain

Submitted By:- Mukesh Verma

Program :- BBA-MBA (Int.)
Section :- A
Reg. no. :- 3020070181
OUR BEAUTYFUL WORLD
GLORIUS GIFT OF NATURE
 OUR EARTH
WHERE WE LIVE

Soil on which we live and do all those things for survive in this
world. Where we do all those activities like:-
Agriculture, Economic Activities to fulfill our wants.

SOIL
What is Soil?
SOIL may be defined as a thin layer of earth's
crust which serves as a natural medium for growth
of plants. It is the unconsolidated mineral matter
that has been subjected to, and influenced by,
genetic and environmental factors-- parent
material, climate, organisms and topography all
acting over a period of time. Soil differs from the
parent material in the morphological, physical ,
chemical and biological properties. Also, soils
differ among themselves in some or all the
properties, depending on the differences in the
genetic and environmental factors. Thus some soils
are red, some are black; some are deep and some
are shallow; some are coarse textured and some
are fine-textured. They serve as a reservoir of
nutrients and water for crops, provide mechanical
anchorage and favourable tilth. The components of
soil are mineral matter, organic matter, water and
air, the proportions of which vary and which
together form a system for plant growth; hence the
need to study the soils in perspective.

Story of Soil
Although many of us don't think about the ground
beneath us or the soil that we walk on each day,
the truth is soil is a very important resource.
Processes take place over thousands of years to
create a small amount of soil material.
Unfortunately the most valuable soil is often used
for building purposes or is unprotected and erodes
away. To protect this vital natural resource and to
sustain the world's growing housing and food
requirements it is important to learn about soil,
how soil forms, and natural reactions that occur in
soil to sustain healthy plant growth and purify
water. Soil is important to the livelihood of plants,
animals, and humans. However, soil quality and
quantity can be and is adversely affected by
human activity and misuse of soil.
Certain soils are best used for growing crops that
humans and animals consume, and for building
airports, cities, and roads. Other types of soil have
limitations that prevent them from being built
upon and must be left alone. Often these soils
provide habitats for living creatures both in the
soil and atop the soil. One example of soils that
have use limitations are those that hold lakes,
rivers, streams, and wetlands. Humans don't
normally establish their homes in these places, but
fish and waterfowl find homes here, as do the
wildlife that live around these bodies of water.
Natural processes that occur on the surface of
Earth as well as alterations made to earth material
over long periods of time form thousands of
different soil types. In the United States alone
there are over 50,000 different soils! Specific
factors are involved in forming soil and these
factors vary worldwide, creating varied soil
combinations and soil properties worldwide:

The Five Soil Forming Factors

1. Parent material: The primary material from
which the soil is formed. Soil parent material could
be bedrock, organic material, an old soil surface,
or a deposit from water, wind, glaciers, volcanoes,
or material moving down a slope.
2. climate: Weathering forces such as heat, rain,
ice, snow, wind, sunshine, and other environmental
forces, break down parent material and affect how
fast or slow soil formation processes go.
3. Organisms: All plants and animals living in or
on the soil (including micro-organisms and
humans!). The amount of water and nutrients,
plants need affects the way soil forms. The way
humans use soils affects soil formation. Also,
animals living in the soil affect decomposition of
waste materials and how soil materials will be
moved around in the soil profile. On the soil
surface remains of dead plants and animals are
worked by microorganisms and eventually become
organic matter that is incorporated into the soil
and enriches the soil.
4. Topography: The location of a soil on a
landscape can affect how the climatic processes
impact it. Soils at the bottom of a hill will get more
water than soils on the slopes, and soils on the
slopes that directly face the sun will be drier than
soils on slopes that do not. Also, mineral
accumulations, plant nutrients, type of vegetation,
vegetation growth, erosion, and water drainage are
dependent on topographic relief.
5. Time: All of the above factors assert themselves
over time, often hundreds or thousands of years.
Soil profiles continually change from weakly
developed to well developed over time.

Differences in soil forming factors from one

location to another influence the process of soil
formation
Image courtesy of the United States Department of
Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service
What is soil erosion?
Soil is naturally removed by the action of water or
wind: such 'background' (or 'geological') soil
erosion has been occurring for some 450 million
years, since the first land plants formed the first
soil. Even before this, natural processes moved
loose rock, or regolith, off the Earth's surface, just
as has happened on the planet Mars.
In general, background erosion removes soil at
roughly the same rate as soil is formed. But
'accelerated' soil erosion — loss of soil at a much
faster rate than it is formed — is a far more recent
problem. It is always a result of mankind's unwise
actions, such as overgrazing or unsuitable
cultivation practices. These leave the land
unprotected and vulnerable. Then, during times of
erosive rainfall or windstorms, soil may be
detached, transported, and (possibly travelling a
long distance) deposited.
Accelerated soil erosion by water or wind may
affect both agricultural areas and the natural
environment, and is one of the most widespread of
today's environmental problems. It has impacts
which are both on-site (at the place where the soil
is detached) and off-site (wherever the eroded soil
ends up).
More recently still, the use of powerful
agricultural implements has, in some parts of the
world, led to damaging amounts of soil moving
downslope merely under the action of gravity: this
is so-called tillage erosion.
Soil erosion is just one form of soil degradation.
Other kinds of soil degradationinclude salinisation,
nutrient loss, and compaction.

Types of Soil Erosion

Water erosion
Raindrops can be a major problem for farmers
when they strike bare soil. With an impact of up to
30 mph, rain washes out seed and splashes soil into
the air. If the fields are on a slope the soil is
splashed downhill which causes deterioration of
soil structure. Soil that has been detached by
raindrops is more easily moved than soil that has
not been detached. Sheet erosion is caused by
raindrops. Other types of erosion caused by
rainfall include rill erosion and gullies.
Sheet erosion is defined as the uniform removal of
soil in thin layers from sloping land. This, of
course, is nearly impossible; in reality the loose soil
merely runs off with the rain.
Rill erosion is the most common
form of erosion. Although its
effects can be easily removed by
tillage, it is the most often
overlooked. It occurs when soil
is removed by water from little streamlets that run
through land with poor surface draining. Rills can
often be found in between crop rows.
Gullies are larger than rills and cannot
be fixed by tillage. Gully erosion is an
advanced stage of rill erosion, just as rills are often
the result of sheet erosion.
Once rills are large enough to
restrict vehicular access they
are referred to as gullies or
gully erosion. Major
concentrations of high-
velocity run-off water in these
larger rills remove vast amounts of soil. This
results in deeply incised gullies occurring along
depressions and drainage lines.

Wind erosion
 Wind erosion is the
movement and
deposition of soil
particles by wind.
Wind erosion occurs when soils bared of
vegetation are exposed to high-velocity wind.
When its velocity overcomes the gravitational and
cohesive forces of the soil particles, wind will move
soil and carry it away in suspension.1 Wind moves
soil particles 0.1-0.5 mm in size in hopping or
bouncing fashion (known as saltation) and those
greater than 0.5 mm by rolling (known as soil
creep). The finest particles (less than 0.1 mm)
detach into suspension. 1 Wind erosion is most
visible during the suspension stage, as dust storms,
or subsequently as deposition along fencelines and
across roads.The process sorts soil particles,
removing the finer material containing the organic
matter, clay and silt through suspension and
leaving the coarser, less fertile material behind. In
the short term this reduces the productive capacity
of soil, as most of the nutrients plants need are
attached to the smaller colloidal soil fraction. Over
a longer period the physical nature of the soil
changes as the subsoil is exposed.1 Wind erosion
also causes damage to public utilities, for example
soil deposition across roads, and reduces crops
through sandblasting.2 It has been estimated that
700 000 ha in Victoria are affected, with another 2
800 000 ha susceptible when poor management
and unfavourable weather conditions combine.
The associated loss in production costs $3 million
annually.
Wind erosion,
unlike water, cannot
be divided into such
distinct types.
Occurring mostly in
flat, dry areas and
moist sandy soils
along bodies of
water, wind erosion
removes soil and natural vegetation, and causes
dryness and deterioration of soil structure. Surface
texture is the best key to wind erosion hazard
potential. All mucks, sands, and loamy sands can
easily be detached and blown away by the wind,
and thus are rated a severe hazard. Sandy loams
are also vulnerable to wind, but are not as
susceptible to severe wind erosion as the previously
mentioned soils. Regular loams, silt loams, and
clay loams, and clays are not damaged by the
wind, but on wide level plains, there may be a loss
of fine silts, clays, and some organic matter.
Gravitical erosion

In mass movement of soil - slides,

slips, slumps, flows and landslides -
gravity is the principal force acting to
move surface materials such as soil
and rock.1 When natural slope
stability is disrupted, a range of
complex sliding movements may
occur. Detailed classification requires
analysis beyond the scope of this guide. As a rule of
thumb, rapid movements of soil or rock that
behave separately from the underlying stationary
material and involve one distinct sliding surface
are termed landslides. A slower long-term
deformation having a series of sliding surfaces and
exhibiting viscous movement is termed 'creep'.
Such movement is rarely the result of a single
factor, but more often the final act in a series of
processes involving slope, geology, soil type,
vegetation type, water, external loads and lateral
support.mass movement.

Generally mass movement occurs

when the weight (shear stress) of the
surface material on the slope exceeds
the restraining (shear strength)
ability of that material. Factors increasing shear
stress include erosion or excavation undermining
the foot of a slope, loads of buildings or
embankments, and loss of stabilising roots through
removal of vegetation. Vegetation removal and
consequent lower water use may increase soil
water levels, causing an increase in pore water
pressure within the soil profile.2 Increased pore
water pressure or greater water absorption may
weaken inter-granular bonds, reducing internal
friction and therefore lessening the cohesive
strength of the soil and ultimately the stability of
the slope.

Frozen-melt erosion
When water freezes, it expands suddenly and with
tremendous force. When water inside a crack in a
rock freezes, its expansive strength may be
sufficient to crack the rock and to break parts off
it. Frost is tremendously active in snow-covered
mountains, particularly along the snow boundary
where water repeatedly
thaws and freezes. It
causes steep cliffs in this
region.
A particularly mysterious
form of frost damage is
frost heave, resulting in
damaged roads, buildings
and cropland. It appears as if the frost heaved
sections of the land upward, by as much as 20cm
and usually in very irregular ways. As can be
expected, frost heave works with the strength of
frost.
Frost heave is not predictable but happens after a
deep frost period, followed by thawing and
freezing again, and a few repeats of this sequence.
In permafrost soils of the arctic, it causes
engineering headaches that have to be met with
special solutions.
Frost heave can be understood as follows: a deep
frost, or permafrost freezes the soil to a certain
depth. When this frost thaws incompletely, it
leaves a frozen layer behind. Underneath it, the
soil may still be thawed but in permafrost places,
this frozen bottom is always present. Above it,
melting water collects. A repeated frost now freezes
it again from the top down, forming a hard layer
on top with water in between the two frozen layers.
As the frost progresses deeper, the entire top layer
is pushed up a few centimetres. The next
thawing/freezing cycle repeats this, ratcheting the
top layer higher and higher, and always with the
same force. Only when the deepest layer is thawed
again, will frost heaving stop.
It is not known how much erosion is caused by
frost heaving, but it can damage soil structure.

Causes of Soil Erosion

Erosion is an incluxive term for the detachment

and removal of soil and rock by the action of
running water, wind, waves, flowing ice, and mass
movement. on hillslopes in most parts of the world
the dominant processes are action by raindrops,
running water, subsurface water, and mass
wasting. The activity of waves, ice, or wind may be
regarded as special cases restricted to particular
environment.
Climate and geology are the most important
influences on erosion with soil character and
vegetation being dependent upon them and
interrelated with each other. The web of
relationships between the factors which influence
erosion is extremly complex. Vegegation, for
example, is dependent upon climate, especially
rainfall and temperature, and upon the soil which
is derived from the weathered rock forming the
topography. Vegetation in its turn influences the
soil through the action of roots, take-up of
nutrients, and provision of organic matter, and it
protect the soil from erosion. The importance of
this feedback is most obvious when the vegetation
cover is inadequate to protect the soil, for eroded
soil cannot support a close vegetation cover. The
operation of the factors which influence erosion is
most readily seen in their effect upon the
disposition of storm rainfall. By comparison with
the high runoff from an eroded catchment a well-
vegetated catchment with a permeable soil will
experience higher infiltration, lower surface
runoff, and less surface erosion.
Erosion is a function of the eroding power of
raindrops, running water, and sliding or flowing
earth masse, and the erodibility of the soil, or:
Erosion=f(Erosivity, Erodibility).

Climate factor
The major climatic factors which influence runoff
and erosion are precipitation, temperature, and
wind. Precipitation is by far the most important.
Temperature affects runoff by contributing to
changes in soil moisture between tains, it
determines whether the precipitation will be in the
form of rain or snow, and it changes the absorptive
properties of the soil for sater by causing the soil to
freeze. Ice in the soil, particularly needle ice, can
be very effective in raising part of the surface of
bare soil and thus making it more asily removed
by rnuoff or wind. The wind effect includes the
power to pick up and carry fine soil particles, the
influence it exerts on the angle and impact of
raindrops and, more rarely, its effect on
vegetation, especially by wind-throw of trees.
Many reports of soil erosion phenomena have their
value limited by uncertainties in the terminology
used, consequently the key terms are defined here.
Raindrop erosion is recognized as being
responsible for four effects: (1) disaggregation of
soil aggregates as a result of impact; (2) minor
lateral displacement of soil particles (a process
sometimes referred to as creep );(3) splashing of
soil particles into the air (sometimes called
saltation); (4) selection or sorting of soil particles
by raindrop impact which may occur as a result of
two effects-(a) the forcing of fine-grained particles
into soil voids causing the infiltration rate to be
reduced and (b)selective splashing of detached
grains. wash is the process in which soil particles
are entrained and transported by shallow sheet
flows (overland flow). Rainwash is the combined
effect from raindrops falling into a sheet flow.

Soil feature factor

The soil factor is expressed in the erodibility of the
soil. Erodibility, unlike the determination of
erosivity of rainfall, is difficult to measure and no
universal method of measurement has been
developed. The main reason for this deficiency is
that into two groups: those which are the actual
physical features of the soil; and those which are
the result of human use of the soil.
The resistance of soil to detachment by raindrop
impact depends upon its shear strength, that is its
cohesion (c) and angle of friction. It is difficult, in
practice, to measure the appropriate values of c
and for grains at the suface of a soil or soil crust,
partly because of variability in the size, packing,
and shape of particles and partly because of the
varying degrees of wetting and submergence of
grains by water. More success has been achieved
with simplw rotational shear vanes than with most
other methods.
Many attempts have been made to relate the
amount of erosion from a soil to its physical
characterisics. Pinoneer work in this field was
done in North American in the 1930s. Bouyoucos
(1935) suggested that erodibility is related to the
sizes of the particles of the soil in the ratio:
(per cent sand +percent silt)/percent clay

Geological factor
This factor is evident in the steepness and length of
slopes. Nearly all of the experimental work on the
slope effect has assumed that the slopes are
undercultivation. In such conditions raindrop
splash will move material further down steep
slopes than down gentle ones, there is likely to be
more runoff, and runoff velocities will be faster.
Because of this combination of factors the amount
of erosion is not just proportional to the steepness
of the slope, but rises rapidly with increasing
angle. Mathematically the relationship is: EµS2
where E is the erosion, S the slope in
per cent, and a is an exponent.
Values of a derived experimental range
from 1.35 to 2.
The lengh of slope has a similar effect
upon soil loss, because on a long slope there can be
a greater depth and velocity of overland flow, and
rills can develop more readily than on short slopes.
Because there is a greater area
of land on long than on short
slope facets of the same width,
it is necessary to distinguish
between total soil loss and soil
loss per unit area. The relationship between soil
loss and slope length may be expressed as: EµLb
Where E is the soil loss per unit area, L is the
length of slope, and b is an exponent. In a series of
experiments Zingg found that the values of b are
around 0.6 but experiments elsewhere indicated
that a rather higher value is more representative.

Biological factor
Vegetation offsets the effects on erosion of the
other factors-clmate, topography, and soil
characteristics. The major effects of vegetation fall
into at least seven main categories:
(1) the interception of rainfall by the vegetation
canopy;
(2) the decreasing of velocity of runoff, and hence
the cutting action of water and its capacity to
entrain sediment;
(3) root effects in increasing soil strength,
granulation, and porosity;
(4) biological activityies associated with vegetative
growth and their influence on soil porosity;
(5) the transpiration of water, leading to the
subsequent drying out of the soil;
(6) insulation of the soil against high and low
temperatures which cause cracking or frost
heaving and needle ice formation;
(7) compaction of underlying soil.The importance
of plants
Plants provide protective cover on the land and
prevent soil erosion for the following reasons:

plants slow down water as it flows over the land

(runoff) and this allows much of the rain to soak
into the ground;
Plant roots hold the soil in position and prevent it
from being washed away;
Plants break the impact of a raindrop before it hits
the soil, thus reducing its ability to erode;
Plants in wetlands and on the banks of rivers are
of particular importance as they slow down the
flow of the water and their roots bind the soil, thus
preventing erosion.
The loss of protective vegetation through
deforestation, over-grazing, ploughing, and fire
makes soil vulnerable to being swept away by wind
and water. In addition, over-cultivation and
compaction cause the soil to lose its structure and
cohesion and it becomes more easily eroded.
Erosion will remove the top-soil first. Once this
nutrient-rich layer of soil is gone, few plants will
grow in the soil again. Without soil and plants the
land becomes desert-like and unable to support life
- this process is called desertification. It is very
difficult and often impossible to restore desertified
land.
WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS
Oh!
God
How to control soil erosion
COVER methods
These methods all protect the soil from the
damaging effects of rain-drop impact. Most will
also improve soil fertility.
Mulching
Bare soil between growing plants is covered with
a layer of organic matter such as straw, grasses,
leaves and rice husks - anything readily available.
Mulching also keeps the soil moist, reduces
weeding, keeps the soil cool and adds organic
matter. If termites are a problem, keep the mulch
away from the stems of crops.
Cover crops and green manures
Cover crops are a kind of living mulch. They are
plants - usually legumes - which are grown to
cover the soil, also reducing weeds. Sometimes
they are grown under fruit trees or taller, slow
maturing crops. Sometimes they also produce
food or fodder. Cowpeas, for example may be
used both as a cover crop and a food crop.
Green manures - also usually legumes - are
planted specially to improve soil fertility by
returning fresh leafy material to the soil. They
may be plants that are grown for 1-2 months
between harvesting one crop and planting the
next. The leaves may be cut and left on the
surface of the soil as a mulch or the whole plant
dug into the soil. Green manures may also be
trees or hedges which may grow for many years
in a cropping field from which green leaves are
regularly cut for use as mulch (alley cropping).
Mixed cropping and inter-cropping
By growing a variety of crops - perhaps mixed
together, in alternate rows, or sown at different
times - the soil is better protected from rain
splash.
Early planting
The period at the beginning of the rainy season
when the soil is prepared for planting, is when the
damage from rain splash is often worst. Sowing
early will make the period when the soil is bare,
as short as possible.
Crop residues
After harvest, unless the next crop is to be
immediately replanted, it is a good idea to leave
the stalks, stems and leaves of the crop just
harvested, lying on the soil. They will give some
cover protection until the next crop develops.
Agroforestry
Planting trees among agricultural crops helps to
protect the soil from erosion, particularly after
crops are harvested. The trees will give some
protection from rain splash. Fruit, trees, legume
trees for fodder or firewood and alley cropping
all help reduce soil erosion.
Minimum cultivation
Each time the soil is dug or ploughed, it is
exposed to erosion. In some soils it may be
possible to sow crops without ploughing or
digging, ideally among the crop residue from the
previous crop. This is most likely to be possible in
a loose soil with plenty of organic matter.
2. BARRIER methods
Barrier methods all slow the flow of water down
a slope. This greatly reduces the amount of soil
which run-off water can carry away and
conserves water. Any kind of barrier should
work. To be effective any barrier must follow the
contour lines.
Man-made terraces
In some countries terracing has been successfully
practised for centuries - the Philippines, Peru and
Nepal, for example. Well-built terraces are one of
the most effective methods of controlling soil
erosion, especially on steep slopes. However,
terraces require skill and very hard work to
build. Each terrace is levelled - first by levelling
the sub-soil, then the top soil - and firm side
supports are built, often of rock. Man-made
terraces are unlikely to be an appropriate method
in countries with no tradition of terrace building.
Contour ploughing
Whenever possible all land should be ploughed
along the contour line - never up and down, since
this simply encourages erosion. In some cultures
this may be very difficult due to the pattern of
land inheritance. For example the Luo people in
Western Kenya inherit land in long strips
running down to the river valleys, making
contour ploughing extremely difficult. Soil
conservation programmes may need to consider
land redistribution schemes, or neighbouring
farmers will have to work together.
Contour barriers
Almost any available material can be used to
build barriers along the contours. Here are some
examples: old crop stalks and leaves, stones,
grass strips, ridges and ditches strengthened by
planting with grass or trees.
Natural terraces
David Stockley encourages the use of grass strips.
He writes...
‘Why do so much hard work (building terraces)
when nature can do it for less? Let us make use of
natural erosion. We planted grass along the
contour lines. We used fibrous grasses with a
dense root system such as Napier grass,
Guatemala grass and Guinea grass. The strips of
land in between were cultivated. As the soil is
cultivated, nature moves the soil to form a
natural terrace. The rainwater passes through
the grass strip, depositing any soil carried behind
the grass. In our experience in Bangladesh and
Brazil, rains formed natural terraces within five
years. Once well established, the grass barrier
can be planted with banana, pineapple, coffee,
fruit or firewood trees.’
Vetiver grass has been very effective in grass
strips. It does not spread onto cultivated soil, it
produces sterile seeds, has few pest problems and
can survive in a wide range of climates.
For more information about Vetiver grass, write
to:
Vetiver Information Network, World Bank,1818
High Street NW,
Washington DC 20433, USA
Medias lunas
This is a helpful system for reclaiming badly
eroded land which has been used successfully in
Bolivia. Medias lunas or crescent shaped
depressions are built on sloping land. The
crescent shapes are built at the end of the rainy
season so the ridges made can be compacted well.
The crescent collects the rainwater and soil. Trees
- usually legumes - are planted when the next
rainy season begins and protected by thorn
branches from grazing animals. After 3 or 4 years
each media luna will be covered with vegetation.
Later, as the soil continues to improve, crops may
be grown in the medias lunas.

SOLUTIONS FOR SOIL EROSION

1. to prevent erosion of bare soil, it is important to
maintain a vegetation cover, especially in the most
vulnerable areas e.g. those with steep slopes, a dry
season or periods of very heavy rainfall. To do this
may mean only partially harvesting forests (e.g.
alternate trees) and using seasonally dry or wet
areas for pastoral rather than arable agriculture.
2. where intensive cultivation takes place, farmers
should use a crop rotation in order to prevent the
soil becoming exhausted.
Where soils are ploughed in vulnerable areas,
contour ploughing (i.e. round the hillside rather
than down the hillside) should be used.
Careful management of irrigation, to prevent the
application of too much or too little water, should
help reduce the problem of salination.
3. livestock grazing rates must be carefully
managed to prevent overgrazing.
4. perhaps we must attempt to restrict highway
construction and urbanisation to areas of lower
agricultural potential. With extractive industries, a
pledge must be secured to restore the land to its
former condition before planning permission for
quarries or mines is granted.
S