In our surroundings, many changes keep happening at a slow but steady pace; big boulders get reduced to sand and high mountains get eaten away bit by bit by the wind and water to become hills. Imagine it like this: every day, the surface of the earth gets scrubbed with wind and water, which act just like sandpaper!
What is Erosion?
This process of gradual weathering down of the surface of the earth is known as erosion. Then why don’t we come to know about it? Well, these changes take place very very slowly, and that is why we do not come to take any notice of them.
Effects of Erosion
Give it enough time, and it can make the longest rivers disappear by silting and drill holes as big as the Grand Canyon in the surface of the earth.
Erosion can also build up new geographical features! Let’s take sand dunes in deserts for example. After a strong sand storm, you will find several new sand dunes standing on the place where there was not even an anthill before the storm.
How does Erosion happen?
Powerful winds and running water bodies erode the rock and sand that lie in their way and then transport the eroded material from one place to another.
Erosion not only shapes the Earth’s surface, but it affects the environment in various ways as well.
How can we control Erosion?
While there is nothing much that we can do to prevent the erosion of rocks and mountains, the best way to stop soil erosion is to stop cutting trees. The roots of the trees keep the soil in place and when the plants are stripped from the land, wind and water can easily erode the bare soil.
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