Question

Define the following:
i) Sheet erosion
ii) Soil conservation
iii) In situ soil

Answer 1

Hint: Sheet erosion, soil conservation and in situ soil all have one thing in common. Soil, a mixture of organic and natural particles with nutrients and minerals that supports life on this planet. They are continuously getting disrupted by the geological process of flowing water, wind and by the force of gravity. This process is known as erosion and has significant economic and environmental consequences.

Complete answer:
i) Sheet erosion: Sheet erosion is the removal of soil by the force of rain splash, wind, or shallow flow of water. They remove the topsoil which is the most productive part of land and farms. Its consequence is that plant growth is greatly reduced. To avoid sheet erosion, the best one can do is to build and maintain the vegetative cover of the soil and to ensure high infiltration rates in the soil profile.

ii) Soil Conservation: Soil conservation is the prevention of loss of the topsoil that is the most fertile part of the land from erosion. It can also be defined as the prevention or reduction of over usage, salinization, or other contamination of the soil. There are a number of ways to conserve the top layer of the soil, some of them are Contour ploughing, terrace farming, Keyline design, Crop rotation etc.

iii) In situ soil: When the soil is formed when the parent rock is broken into smaller pieces it is known as in-situ soil. It is less fertile and is very natural. They are not suggested for agricultural purposes. Some example of in-situ soil is black soil, desert soil etc.

Note: As soil is such an important factor because of which life is possible on earth, this is the duty of the people to not get it contaminated and degraded. Apart from erosion, deforestation, land degradation, acidification of soil and many other processes leads to degradation of soil.