Positive and negative effects of Erosion
We know that land is very precious and hence is important for performing many useful activities. Have you seen washing away of land by many factors like wind, air, soil? Erosion is simply wearing way of the land or dislocation of one part of land to another part.
It may be due to natural activities like:
- TEMPERATURE change may cause the particular rock to expand in hot weather and, contract in cool weather causing in erosion of rocks.
- Erosion by soil- in soil erosion, living organisms are more responsible for erosion, because organisms which dwell there, break up the soil which helps wind, land to erode the land.
- Erosion by wind- actually in dry areas, what happens is; particles suspended in air are carried away by the wind passing by, causing erosion.
- Erosion by water- when rain hits the surface of the land, the land washed out and, hence erosion occurs and also riverbeds causes’ water erosion, because it constantly takes the particles from the bed it causes erosion.
Human activities also are responsible for this:
- DEFORESTATION– cutting down trees will lead to erosion.
- CONSTRUCTION OF NEW ROADS
- FARMING
But how much time will it take for erosion? It may take from seconds to thousands of years.
Positive effects of Erosion:
- REFORMING NEW PLACES– Have you ever wondered how plateaus, hills, coastlines, valleys came into existence. It is all because of erosion caused by natural activities.
- Archaeologists work very hard to find and dig new fossils, erosion can help them, and this is not a joke, yes true. Erosion already dislocates a part of land for them, by which fossils almost remain on the top of soil.
- Fertile land– Erosion means as simple as dislocation, it includes transportation of one part of soil to another, where it results in deposition of fertile soil in one place. This further leads to cropping and; using that fertile land for agriculture purpose. We also have live examples for this, people who lived in southwestern U.S used cliff edges to cultivate their crops, whose land was one of the results of soil erosion.
- Mineral deposits due to erosion.
- We have seen about rock contraction and breaking of rocks by water, wind, temperature effects. This may lead to breakage of the rocks, lowering the space they occupy and also sediments them into small pieces.
Negative effects of Erosion:
- LOSS OF NATURAL HABITAT– erosion leads to breakage of lands and buildings. In turn which may cause disturbance in survival of animals, which dwell in that place.
- LANDSLIDES– EROSION also causes landslides, which means falling of lands due to gravity to slightly lower lands them than, which is considered to be a natural calamity.
- Affect in farmer’s land– erosion often results in effecting farmers land, it may not give fertile soil for farming, but also may take away the fertile soil from them. It is really sad that we cannot do anything.
- Do you know about sinkholes– hole which happens to take place in the land, due to constant erosion. It is simply collapsing of the surface area due to constant dislocation of the land.
- FARMERS ACTIONS MAY CAUSE EROSION– LIVE EXAMPLE IS Queensland, where almost all the people are involved in cultivation, due to their constant farming practices, the land got eroded and lead to unfertile soil.
- We cannot control them– there are no special techniques to overrule them, and control the natural activities, and when erosion is due to wind, it becomes harder to control or even prevent.
- Erosion also makes it harder to determine the factors affecting that particular area and also it is tough to predict the geology of that area or land.
- Soil erosion shows worse conditions sometimes it may desert some areas, leaving them abounded and barren.
You can actually control the erosion in minimal amounts at least you can prevent them, by just following few techniques and precautions in that particular area or land like, Afforestation works a lot. It builds out space for new species as well as roots of trees make the soil to stay strong and avoids erosion. And also erosion is important to maintain and build natural resources like plateaus, valleys etc.
Nature always gives us something as well as takes away lot of things, we cannot actually predict the natures next step to human race and as well as to species existing on this planet. We should always be ready for the confrontations nature throws at us. And also enjoy the beauty of its creation.