Topsoil Basics
The thin, uppermost layer of soil where most plant roots grow and nutrients are found.
What is topsoil?
The two main natural forces responsible for most topsoil erosion.
What are wind and water?
Planting the same crop on the same land year after year, which depletes nutrients and destabilizes soil.
What is monoculture (or monocropping)?
The term for infertile, exhausted land that can no longer support crops due to severe topsoil loss.
What is degraded land (or desertification)?
Planting crops in rows that follow the natural curves of a hill to slow water runoff.
What is contour farming?
The approximate number of years it takes nature to form just one inch of topsoil.
What is 500 years?
The farming practice of removing all plant material after harvest, leaving soil bare and vulnerable.
What is tillage/leaving bare fields?
Tilling soil up and down a slope instead of across it, which accelerates water runoff and erosion.
What is up-and-down slope tillage?
When eroded soil enters rivers and streams, it causes this problem that harms aquatic ecosystems.
What is sedimentation (or murky water)?
Leaving last season's crop residue on the field to protect soil from wind and rain.
What is conservation tillage (or no-till farming)?
The three main components of healthy topsoil.
What are minerals, organic matter, and living organisms?
This type of erosion creates small channels in sloped fields after heavy rainfall.
What is rill erosion?
Overuse of this resource compacts soil, reduces water absorption, and increases runoff.
What is heavy machinery (or livestock overgrazing)?
Topsoil erosion contributes to this global crisis by reducing the world's ability to grow enough food.
What is food insecurity/world hunger?
Planting trees along the edges of fields to block wind and anchor soil.
What are windbreaks (or shelterbelts)?
The term for the dark, decomposed organic material that gives healthy topsoil its rich color and fertility.
What is humus?
The term for the detachment of soil particles by the impact of raindrops before runoff even begins.
What is splash erosion?
This ancient practice strips land of trees and vegetation to create farmland, dramatically increasing erosion risk.
What is deforestation (or slash-and-burn agriculture)?
Fertilizers and pesticides carried away with eroded topsoil can cause this environmental phenomenon in waterways.
What is eutrophication (or algal blooms)?
This practice alternates strips of different crops or grasses to interrupt erosion pathways and improve soil structure.
What is strip cropping?