water erosion

Geographic

2022

We explain what water erosion is, what causes it and what factors accelerate it. Also, what is pluvial and river erosion.

In its movements and changes of state, the water slowly erodes the rock.

What is water erosion?

Water erosion is the type of wear that on the hard materials of the land surface exercises the Water in its various forms of displacement, movement or flow. It is a process of wear, transport and deposition of the particles that make up the rock, minerals and the various physical structures that make up the surface layer of the lithosphere.

Throughout your hydrological cycle, the water that makes up two thirds of our planet changes shape numerous times, passing from its liquid state to the gaseous and to solid, to later recover its liquidity in the seas, oceans, rivers and lakes.

In these changes and movements, it generates a quota of wear in the materials that it finds in its path, either in the rocks that the rain hits, those that stop the onslaught of the wave, those that furrow the river in its continuous flow, etc. .

This water erosion has as a consequence the slow decomposition of the rock surface, the transport of said sediments to other regions, the destruction of soils, and the subsequent deposition or accumulation of sediments in new regions of the planet's surface.

Causes of water erosion

Water erosion is a natural phenomenon that occurs on our planet. Its causes are as simple as rain, running rivers, rising and falling tides, the constant impact of waves, or even the occasional drip on a hard surface.

Any displacement of water, or even its successive hardening and melting into bodies of ice at the top of the moutains, cause a slow but steady change on the planet's surface.

Types of water erosion

Water erosion can occur according to the following types:

  • Laminar erosion. The least perceptible of the forms of water erosion, despite being the most widespread, consists of the filtered out water and the lightest particles in the I usually, leaving behind the thickest, devoid of essential nutrients such as silt and organic material.
  • Erosion by streams.It occurs when the water forms erosive channels that cross the ground, and that can be:
    • Trickles. Smaller in size.
    • Carcavas. That flow according to the slope of the land and come from the accumulation of water at the same point.
    • Grooves. Small traces of water that remove the soil or stones in its path.
  • Sludge washes. Forms of collapse or displacement of soils in the form of viscous fluid, since the earth has exceeded its capacity to absorb water and is removed as if it were fresh clay.

River erosion

River erosion draws the cause of the river on the ground.

Fluvial erosion is understood to be a form of water erosion, which is due to the exclusive action of rivers. These are born at the top of the mountains and flow towards the sea, dragging all kinds of hard materials in their path.

When flowing, not only minerals, stones, logs are carried, but also the surface layer of the earth, or even that of the most resistant rocks. That is why, when they dry up, the rivers leave the furrow that reveals their trajectory, called the channel.

Rain erosion

The pluvial erosion originates very particular forms.

Similarly, a form of water erosion caused by rain is known as pluvial erosion. The drops of water in their downward trajectory impact the soil and tear off particles, generating a miniscule form of laminar erosion.

This phenomenon usually occurs in thin soils, and also in regions of much and continuous precipitation, on the rocks or solid materials more exposed to the fall of the water and especially to its runoff.

Factors that accelerate water erosion

Landforms increase the effect of water erosion.

Erosion caused by water can be increased by the following factors:

  • Deforestation. Since the layer of plant life present in many regions of the planet protects the soil and helps absorb water, preventing it from flooding the soils.
  • Agricultural overexploitation. Since the mistreatment and impoverishment of the upper layer of the soil makes it more vulnerable to the action of the waters.
  • Accidents relief. In regions where there are greater waterfalls, accumulations of the same or runoff, there is greater erosion than in the others.

Other types of erosion

Wind erosion becomes cumulative and creates shapes on the ground.

In addition to that caused by water, there are other forms of erosion:

  • Eolic erosion. Caused by the force of the wind and especially by the solid particles that it is capable of lifting and moving, crashing them against the earth's surface.
  • Gravitational erosion. Caused by the fall of bodies and projections from the ground due to the force of gravity.
!-- GDPR -->