Erosion is the removal of solids (sediment, soil, rock and other particles) in the natural environment. It usually occurs due to transport by wind, water, or ice; by down-slope creep of soil and other material under the force of gravity; or by living organisms, such as burrowing animals, in the case of bioerosion.

Agents Of Erosion

Erosion by Water

• Water is the most important erosional agent and erodes most commonly as running water in streams.
• However, water in all its forms is erosional.
• Raindrops (especially in dry environments) create splash erosion that moves tiny particles of soil.
• Water collecting on the surface of the soil collects as it moves towards tiny rivulets and streams and creates sheet erosion.
• In streams, water is a very powerful erosional agent.
• The faster water moves in streams the larger objects it can pick up and transport.

Fine sand can be moved by streams flowing as slowly as three-quarters of a mile per hour. Streams erode their banks in three different ways:

• The hydraulic action of the water itself moves the sediments,
• water acts to corrode sediments by removing ions and dissolving them, and
• particles in the water strike bedrock and erode it.
  • The water of streams can erode in three different places:
    • lateral erosion erodes the sediment on the sides of the stream channel,
    • down cutting erodes the stream bed deeper, and
    • headward erosion erodes the channel upslope.

Wind Erosion

• Erosion by wind is known as aeolian erosion (named after Aeolus, the Greek god of winds) and occurs almost always in deserts.
• Aeolian erosion of sand in the desert is partially responsible for the formation of sand dunes.
• The power of the wind erodes rock and sand.

Ice Erosion

• The erosive power of moving ice is actually a bit greater than the power of water but since water is much more common, it is responsible for a greater amount of erosion on the earth’s surface.
• Glaciers can perform to erosive functions – they pluck and abrade.
• Plucking takes place by water entering cracks under the glacier, freezing, and breaking off pieces of rock that are then transported by the glacier.
• Abrasion cuts into the rock under the glacier, scooping rock up like a bulldozer and smoothing and polishing the rock surface.

Wave Erosion

• Waves in oceans and other large bodies of water produce coastal erosion.
• The power of oceanic waves is awesome, large storm waves can produce 2000 pounds of pressure per square foot.
• The pure energy of waves along with the chemical content of the water is what erodes the rock of the coastline.
• Erosion of sand is much easier for the waves and sometimes, there’s an annual cycle where sand is removed from a beach during one season, only to be returned by waves in another.

Read Also:

Effects of Faults

Impact Of Erosion On Human Settlements

Stages Of Erosion Process By Wind

Measures To Control Erosion