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Causes of Soil Erosion

Land Use: Humans play a major role in soil erosion through their use and abuse of
natural resources, for example deforestation, grazing, arable land use, faulty farming
systems, high crop intensity, housing construction, mining etc.
Climate: The two most important climatic factors having a direct effect on erosion are
precipitation and wind velocity. Other climatic factors have an indirect effect on soil
erosion, such as water balance, evapotranspiration, temperature and relative
humidity. Indirect factors affect the erosivity of rainfall by altering the soil moisture
regime and the proportion of rainfall that may become surface runoff.
Landforms: Slope gradient, slope length and shape of slope are the important
variables of landform that affect erosion processes for all types of soil erosion, e.g.,
splash, sheet, rill, and gully erosion.

Soil erosion by wind Soil erosion by water

Soil erosion by cutting trees Soil erosion by mining

Learn More

Artisanal mining causes serious environmental damage through water contamination with
heavy metals like mercury and cyanide, deforestation, soil erosion.

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