Erosion by water

Soil erosion is a natural process, occurring over geological time, and indeed it is a process that is essential for soil formation in the first place. With respect to soil degradation, most concerns about erosion are related to accelerated erosion, where the natural rate has been significantly increased mostly by human activity. Soil erosion by water is a widespread problem throughout Europe. The processes of soil erosion involve detachment of material by two processes, raindrop impact and flow traction; and transported either by saltation through the air or by overland water flow. Runoff is the most important direct driver of severe soil erosion by water and therefore processes that influence runoff play an important role in any analysis of soil erosion intensity.

By removing the most fertile topsoil, erosion reduces soil productivity and, where soils are shallow, may lead to an irreversible loss of natural farmland. Even where soil depth is good, loss of the topsoil is often not conspicuous but nevertheless potentially very damaging. Severe erosion is commonly associated with the development of temporary or permanently eroded channels or gullies that can fragment farmland. The soil removed by runoff from the land, for example during a large storm, accumulates below the eroded areas, in severe cases blocking roadways or drainage channels and inundating buildings.

Erosion rate is very sensitive to both climate and land use, as well as to detailed conservation practice at farm level. The Mediterranean region is particularly prone to erosion because it is subject to long dry periods followed by heavy bursts of erosive rain, falling on steep slopes with fragile soils. This contrasts with NW Europe where soil erosion is less because rain falling on mainly gentle slopes is evenly distributed throughout the year and consequently, the area affected by erosion is less extensive than in southern Europe. However, erosion is still a serious problem in NW and central Europe, and is on the increase. In parts of the Mediterranean region, erosion has reached a stage of irreversibility and in some places erosion has practically ceased because there is no more soil left.

With a very slow rate of soil formation, any soil loss of more than 1 t ha-1yr-1 can be considered as irreversible within a time span of 50-100 years. Losses of 20 to 40 t ha-1 in individual storms, that may happen once every two or three years, are measured regularly in Europe with losses of more than 100 t ha-1in extreme events. The main causes of soil erosion are still inappropriate agricultural practices, deforestation, overgrazing, forest fires and construction activities.

In a period of rapid changes in both climate and land use, due to global change, revised agricultural policies and changing international market forces, it is vitally important to be able to assess the state of soil erosion at a European level, using an objective methodology. This methodology must also allow the assessment of erosion to be repeated as conditions change, or to explore the broad scale implications of prospective global or European-wide changes in land utilisation. The results of applying such a methodology can provide estimates of the overall costs attributable to erosion under present and changed conditions, and objectively identify areas where more detailed study is needed and possible remedial action.

The soil erosion by water section presents 4 Different Modelling approaches: RUSLE2015 (modified version of RUSLE),  G2PESERA and MESALES. Besides the description of the models and the literature, ESDAC makes available the corresponding datasets. The European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) has been involved in the development of those 4 models.  The latest development were performed with the RUSLE2015 model for which all modelled factors are also presented (together with their data):  K-Factor (Soil Erodibility), R-factor (Rainfall erosivity), LS-factor (Slope Length and Steepness),C-factor (Cover-Management),  P-factor (Support practices) .

The work developed in JRC serves to develop indicators supporing the European Union agro-environmental policies.

The poster Soil Erosion in Europe is summarizing the modelling activities of the Soil team during the last 3 years.

 

Contact Points

Panos Panagos, E-Mail: panos.panagos@ec.europa.eu


References - Citations

 

 
Displaying 1 - 25 of 30 | Show 25 | All results per page.

Title: Erosion potential method (EPM)
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data
Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Global Soil Erosion
Registration requested: Request Form
Continent:
Year: 2024
Keywords: erosion potential |

Title: Global Soil Erodibility
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data
Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Global Soil Erosion
Registration requested: Request Form
Continent:
Year: 2023
Keywords: soil erodibility |

Title: Multiple co-occurring erosion processes on global cropland
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data
Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Global Soil Erosion
Registration requested: Request Form
Continent:
Year: 2023



Cover Crops across Europe
Title: Cover Crops across Europe
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data
Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Soil Organic Carbon Content
Registration requested: Request Form
Continent:
Year: 2023
Keywords: cover crops |


Post-fire soil erosion in Europe
Title: Post-fire soil erosion in Europe
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data
Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Post-fire Soil Erosion
Registration requested: Request Form
Continent:
Year: 2023
Keywords: Soil Erosion |

Historical reconstruction of soil erosion in Europe
Title: Historical reconstruction of soil erosion in Europe
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data
Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water
Registration requested: Request Form
Continent:
Year: 2022
Keywords: soil erosion; reconstruction |

Multiple concurrent soil erosion processes
Title: Multiple concurrent soil erosion processes
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data
Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Wind Erosion, Harvest Erosion
Registration requested: Request Form
Continent:
Year: 2022
Keywords: soil loss |


Post-fire soil erosion map for Portugal
Title: Post-fire soil erosion map for Portugal
Resource Type: Datasets
Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water
Continent:
Country: Portugal
Year: 2022
Keywords: post-fire | , erosion | , portugal |

High resolution cropland global soil erosion (GloSEM 1.3)
Title: High resolution cropland global soil erosion (GloSEM 1.3)
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data
Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Global Soil Erosion
Registration requested: Request Form
Continent:
Year: 2022

Water erosion in Europe by 2050
Title: Water erosion in Europe by 2050
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data
Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water
Registration requested: Request Form
Continent:
Year: 2021

Land degradation in global arable lands
Title: Land degradation in global arable lands
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data
Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Global Soil Erosion, Land degradation
Registration requested: Request Form
Continent:
Year: 2021
Language: en
Keywords: aridity |

Global soil erosion by water in 2070
Title: Global soil erosion by water in 2070
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data
Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Global Soil Erosion – Future projections
Registration requested: Request Form
Continent:
Year: 2020
Language: en
Keywords: soil loss |

Global Soil Erosion
Title: Global Soil Erosion
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data
Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Global Soil Erosion
Registration requested: Request Form
Continent:
Country: Italy
Year: 2019
Publisher: Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
Language: en
Keywords: Soil Erosion | , land use | , global |

Biodiversity factor in soil erosion
Title: Biodiversity factor in soil erosion
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data
Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Soil Erodibility in Europe, Soil Biodiversity, Integrated Soil Modelling, Soil biodiversity and soil erosion
Registration requested: Request Form
Continent:
Year: 2018
Publisher: Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
Language: en
Keywords: soil biodiversity |


Global Rainfall Erosivity
Title: Global Rainfall Erosivity
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data
Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Global Rainfall Erosivity, Future Global Rainfall Erosivity in 2050 and 2070, Satellite-based Global R-factor, Rainfall Erosivity in Europe
Registration requested: Request Form
Continent:
Country:
Ispra
Italy
Author: Panos Panagos, Cristiano Ballabio
Year: 2017
Publisher: European Commission, Joint research Centre
Language: en
Keywords: erosion | , erosivity |



G2 soil erosion model data
Title: G2 soil erosion model data
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Projects Data
Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, G2 Model
Registration requested: Request Form
Continent:
Year: 2013
Publisher: JRC and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Keywords: erosion; G2; modelling; USLE; Spatio-Temporal mapping; Critical zones; Crete; Cyprus; Albania; Strymonas |

Support Practices factor (P-factor) for the EU
Title: Support Practices factor (P-factor) for the EU
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data
Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Support Practices Factor
Registration requested: Request Form
Continent:
Year: 2015
Publisher: European Commission, Joint Research Centre
Keywords: RUSLE | , GAEC | , stone walls | , grass margins | , LUCAS | , contour farming |

Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 |

OCTOP: Topsoil Organic Carbon Content for Europe
Title: Pan European Soil Erosion Risk Assessment - PESERA
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data, Maps & Documents, Maps, Soil Data Maps
Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, PESERA Model
Registration requested: Request Form
Continent:
Year: 2003
Language: en