MRE16.

Soil erosion, soil erosion processes, transportation and deposition, rill and
gullies, site monitoring of erosion, particle size analysis, qualitative and
quantitative methods of erosion, estimation;

Soil Erosion Processes

Weathering – Erosion – Transportation

Weathering: A group of processes, generally near surface, that change the

physical and/or chemical character of rock. These processes maybe the action of
water, air, changing temperatures, meteorological events, glaciers and other
environmental processes and/or action of H2CO3 or other acids.

Weathering actually is breaking down of rock particle into smaller size, maybe
clay size but chemical alteration is required to convert it into clay minerals

Erosion is its lifting or picking up like by streams, wind, glaciers, etc., it is the
process of detaching the particle from the main body

Transportation is moving the broken town and picked up particles from one place
to another.

Erosion: Process

Flood erosion: Factors affecting Stream Erosion: erosion of the bed and the banks

Velocity determines Erosion, transportation and deposition, and RIVER GRADIENT

controls the velocity. Similarly bed roughness has a direct impact on the flow
velocity

Particle size determines the erodibility of soil

Cohesion determines whether soil is more eroded or Less

Lateral erosion: Lateral erosion refers to widening of the river channel due to
bank erosion. LE may take place together with down-cutting of the river channel

Headward Erosion: Extension of the river valley upstream due to various

erosional processes and rill and gully erosion or due to mass wasting or sheet
erosion or their combination

Regional Erosion : Mountains erode to make flat areas over periods of long time
similarly river valleys widen due to bank erosion to form a flat river valley.

Glacial Erosion: Rock fragments cemented to the base of a moving glacier grinds
the rock surface it slides on polishing the rock surface as well as being polished
during the process. The thickness of the glacier is directly proportional to the
pressure under which the polishing/grinding takes place. The grinding process
produces rock powder called rock flour, which are actually silt-clay sized fractions
of the parent rock which are generally chemically unchanged. When such powder
flows with the stream flow, the water looks milky.

Another phenomenon of glacial erosion is mass wasting caused by toe cutting of

the steep slopes by the moving glaciers.

Rock falls caused by freezing water in the cracks and joints inside the rock called
“Frost Wedging”

Snow Avalanche, etc

Erosion and transportation by wind

Wind erosion depends upon the velocity of wind and the size of the moving
particles. The velocity of wind is determined by the difference in temperatures

Coastal Erosion

Erosional coasts and depositional coasts:

Obstruction of river flow: Eddy and deposition behind the eddy (whirlpool)
Site Monitoring of Erosion, Particle Size Analysis, Qualitative and
Quantitative Methods of Erosion Estimation

Site Monitoring of Erosion

Sheet Erosion

Rill and Gully Erosion

Bank and Bottom Erosion of River Channel

Wind Erosion

Glacial Erosion

Erosion of Cut Slopes

Monitoring of Coastal Erosion

Erosion of Soil at Drainage Outlets

Particle Size Analysis,

Particle size analysis of eroded material vs eroding factors, slope, runoff –

vital for slope design

Qualitative and Quantitative Methods of Erosion Estimation

Qualitative Estimation of Erosion

Quantitative Estimation of Erosion