Soil Erosion by Wind and its Control

John Tatarko, USDA Author

04/07/2019 Added

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In this video clip, the impacts of wind erosion are demonstrated. Production Facility: Educational Communications Center Bob Dole Hall, KSU. Editor: Cindy Jeffrey. Prog. RT: 35:05

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[00:00:00.000]Soil, a collection of minerals, organic matter, nutrients, gases and water.
[00:00:11.000]Soil is responsible for the production of the vast majority of the world's food supply.
[00:00:16.280]Soil is a virtual necessity for civilizations to thrive, but soil isn't of any use if it
[00:00:21.800]blows away.
[00:00:23.680]Substantial portions of Asia, the Middle East and North Africa were once fertile land supporting
[00:00:29.000]prosperous populations.
[00:00:31.080]But through soil exhaustion and ruin, they changed to their present barren state.
[00:00:36.080]In many countries, soil erosion by wind has depleted the fertility of the soil and in
[00:00:40.840]some it has transformed fertile lands into sandy deserts.
[00:00:46.260]In North America, relatively little wind erosion occurred while the land was under natural
[00:00:51.080]vegetation.
[00:00:53.400]Through overgrazing and cultivation of the land, the stage was set for wind erosion during
[00:00:57.940]dry periods or droughts, especially in the Great Plains.
[00:00:58.940]During the 1930s, the farming of marginal lands in the Great Plains, combined with a
[00:01:06.280]prolonged drought, culminated in dust storms and soil destruction of disastrous proportions.
[00:01:15.280]This period, known as the Dust Bowl, inflicted great hardships on the people and the land, and has been called our nation's greatest
[00:01:19.510]ecological disaster. Even today, the threat of wind erosion has not gone away, especially
[00:01:28.270]on agricultural land in arid and semi-arid regions in the United States and throughout
[00:01:33.010]the world. On 75 million acres of land in the United States alone, it is still a dominant
[00:01:38.790]problem, with 4 to 5 million acres moderately to severely damaged each year. Wind erosion
[00:01:45.350]damages the soil by physically removing the most fertile part, lowering water holding
[00:01:50.790]capacity, degrading soil structure, and increasing soil variability across the field, resulting
[00:01:57.050]in reduced crop production. It also causes plant damage from abrasion, blowouts, and
[00:02:07.450]deposition.
[00:02:08.030]In addition, some soil enters the atmosphere where it obscures visibility, pollutes the
[00:02:15.750]air and water, causes automobile accidents, fouls machinery, and imperils animal, plant,
[00:02:22.830]and human health.
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Soil Erosion by Wind and its Control

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