THE 6 TYPES OF EROSION AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS - ENVIRONMENT - 2025

The types of erosion depend on the natural agent causing the process, with water and wind being the most common elements. Like any natural process that takes place on earth's surfaces, the force of gravity plays a very important role.

There are other factors that erode the soil such as ice, temperature and the force exerted by the movement of the waves. Some human activities such as agriculture, deforestation and grazing can increase the impact of natural agents of erosion.

The complete concept of erosion also involves from the process of erosion and molding of the soil or the rocky crusts of the geographic landscape in its original position, to the transport of all the materials removed by the action of the agents involved.

Most of the soil materials removed in this way are dirt or rock debris, which gradually disintegrate into smaller bodies as they are transported.

The planet earth offers a number of geographical settings or geographical features such as mountain ranges and peaks, valleys and canyons, stony coasts and cliffs, whose characteristics have been formed over time thanks to erosion.

The term erosion comes from the Latin erosio which is the action of the verb erodere and means "to gnaw", from which other words such as "rodent" and "corrosive" also originate.

Classification of the types of erosion

- Water erosion

Moving or flowing water is the most important erosive agent of all. Although it may not seem like it, water is one of the most powerful forces on planet earth. Due to the action of water, there are three types of erosion:

- Fluvial

The erosion of river banks is caused by the friction or constant friction action of the water flow.

This flow carries sediments of soil in the body of water downstream, which act as an instrument of erosion, eroding each other or abrading rocks and land surfaces.

Progressively, this wear removes more and more sediment as the volume and speed of the water flow increases.

In tributaries with harder or arid soils, both the constant flow of water and the growth and decrease of its channel, carve an increasingly deep or wide channel on the surface. As an example of this phenomenon we have the Grand Canyon in Arizona, United States.

- Precipitation

The land surfaces not affected by the water of the rivers, is exposed to the continuous force of erosion by the action of the rains. If the soil is protected by trees such as forest or jungle bodies, rainwater will affect the soil less aggressively.

The water will fall more gently, allowing the soil in the ground to filter and absorb it naturally.

However, constant rainfall in sloping wooded areas can cause landslides that could wash away trees and rocks.

On bare soils, raindrops can hit the soil with enough force to break down its structure, in what is called the splash erosion effect.

The particles and sediments "splash" up to 60 centimeters high, which then fall and cover the natural pores of the earth through which it filters and absorbs water.

Thus the water accumulates on the surface and as the flow increases and runs off due to gravity, it takes land with it.

This effect is called surface erosion, which removes the first layers of the soil necessary for the accumulation of organic matter.

Rain on unprotected soils can create other erosive effects such as ditches, canals and even tunnels.

- Swell

The erosion of the coasts is the product, mainly, of the action of the waves of the sea. The impact of the water added to the abrasion of particles, sediments, sand and stones transported in the swaying of the waves, are wearing down the banks.

This effect is more noticeable on rockier coasts where the force of the waves is progressively eating the stone walls of the cliffs, showing the bedrock. Thanks to this action, there are rock formations such as the coastal arches.

An example of this phenomenon is the arches of Playa de las Catedrales or Playa de las Aguas Santas in Ribadeo, Spain.

- Eolic erosion

It is the degradation and erosion of arid and rocky lands also known as desertification. As its name indicates, its action is the wind, which is one of the least aggressive erosive elements and whose effects can take years.

It happens when strong winds blow over arid soils unprotected by vegetation or with very little vegetation. The wind carries sand and small rock particles in the air that wear away the rocky surfaces of the terrain.

This causes the rocks little by little to fracture and release more particles into the air, increasing the erosive factor in the wind. With the transfer of materials from one side to another, soils and mountains are molded.

Also in sandier areas, the wind simply displaces sand bodies such as dunes or dunes progressively, being able to change the landscape completely in a matter of days or hours. Sandstorms have such an effect very quickly.

As an example of this phenomenon we have the Sahara desert, both in the areas with dunes and the most rocky.

- Glacial erosion

It basically occurs when ice sheets move downhill on a mountainous slope. The weight of the ice as it slides has a crushing effect on the ground, opening or digging its way by force.

The ice can also carry with it pieces of rock from the ground as it moves, which were probably covered with ice and are part of the body of the glacier. In this way the ice is wearing down the soil creating valleys and shaping mountains.

- Erosion by temperature

It is the type of erosion that is produced by changes in temperature caused by the exposure of land surfaces to sunlight. The rock, for example, when receiving high temperatures expands, which causes it to begin to break creating fissures.

Eventually the cracks compromise the structure that holds the rock together and it separates, enough for gravity or the wind to move or displace them from their original place.

References

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3. ca (2004). What are the Different Types of Erosion? Virtual Science Fair. Recovered from odec.ca/projects.
4. Queensland Government site (2013). Types of erosion. The State of Queensland. Recovered from qld.gov.au.
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