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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), G2, PESERA 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
- Borrelli, P., Robinson, D.A., Fleischer, L.R., Lugato, E., Ballabio, C., Alewell, C., Meusburger, K., Modugno, S., Schütt, B., Ferro, V., Bagarello, V., Oost, K.V., Montanarella, L., Panagos, P. 2017. An assessment of the global impact of 21st century land use change on soil erosion. Nature Communications, 8(1), art. no. 2013
- Panagos, P., Standardi, G., Borrelli, P., Lugato, E., Montanarella, L., Bosello, F. 2018. Cost of agricultural productivity loss due to soil erosion in the European Union: From direct cost evaluation approaches to the use of macroeconomic models. Land Degradation and Development, 29(3): 471-484
- Panagos, P., Imeson, A., Meusburger, K., Borrelli, P., Poesen, J., Alewell, C. 2016. Soil Conservation in Europe: Wish or Reality? Land Degradation and Development, 27 (6): 1547-1551
- Borrelli, P., Van Oost, K., Meusburger, K., Alewell, C., Lugato, E., Panagos, P. 2018. A step towards a holistic assessment of soil degradation in Europe: Coupling on-site erosion with sediment transfer and carbon fluxes. Environmental Research, 161: 291-298.
- Panagos, P., Borrelli, P., Robinson, D.A. Common Agricultural Policy: Tackling soil loss across Europe. Nature 526, 195 (07 October 2015), doi:10.1038/526195d
- Panagos, P., Borrelli, P., Poesen, J., Ballabio, C., Lugato, E., Meusburger, K., Montanarella, L., Alewell, .C. 2015. The new assessment of soil loss by water erosion in Europe. Environmental Science & Policy. 54: 438-447. DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2015.08.012
- Panagos, P., Ballabio, C., Borrelli, P., Meusburger, K., Klik, A., Rousseva, S., Tadic, M.P., Michaelides, S., Hrabalíková, M., Olsen, P., Aalto, J., Lakatos, M., Rymszewicz, A., Dumitrescu, A., Beguería, S., Alewell, C. Rainfall erosivity in Europe. Sci Total Environ. 511 (2015), pp. 801-814. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.01.008
- Borrelli, P., Panagos, P., Langhammer, J., Apostol, B., Schütt, B. 2016. Assessment of the cover changes and the soil loss potential in European forestland: First approach to derive indicators to capture the ecological impacts on soil-related forest ecosystems. Ecological Indicators 60, pp. 1208-1220
- Panagos, P., Ballabio, C., Borrelli, P., Meusburger, K. 2016. Spatio-temporal analysis of rainfall erosivity and erosivity density in Greece. Catena, 137, 2603, pp. 161-17
- Panagos, P., Meusburger, K., Ballabio, C., Borrelli, P., Alewell, C. (2014) Soil erodibility in Europe: A high-resolution dataset based on LUCAS. Science of Total Environment, 479–480 (2014) pp. 189–200
- Panagos, P., Borrelli, P., Meusburger, C., Alewell, C., Lugato, E., Montanarella, L., 2015. Estimating the soil erosion cover-management factor at European scale. Land Use policy 48C: 38-50. , doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.05.021
- Panagos, P., Borrelli, P., Meusburger, K. 2015. A New European Slope Length and Steepness Factor (LS-Factor) for Modeling Soil Erosion by Water. Geosciences, 5: 117-126
- Panagos, P., Borrelli, P., Meusburger, K., van der Zanden, E.H., Poesen, J., Alewell, C. 2015. Modelling the effect of support practices (P-factor) on the reduction of soil erosion by water at European Scale. Environmental Science & Policy 51: 23-34
- Borrelli, P., Panagos, P., Montanarella, L. 2015. New Insights into the Geography and Modelling of Wind Erosion in the European Agricultural Land. Application of a Spatially Explicit Indicator of Land Susceptibility to Wind Erosion. Sustainability, 7, 8823-8836.
- Borrelli, P., Ballabio, C., Panagos, P., Montanarella, L. (2014). Wind erosion susceptibility of European soils. Geoderma, 232, 471-478.
- Borrelli, P., Panagos, P., Ballabio, C., Lugato, E., Weynants, M. Montanarella, L (2014). Towards a pan-European assessment of land susceptibility to wind erosion. Land Degradation & Development, In Press. DOI: 10.1002/ldr.2318
- Panagos, P., Meusburger, K., Van Liedekerke, M., Alewell, C., Hiederer, R., Montanarella, L. 2014. Assessing soil erosion in Europe based on data collected through a European Network. Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Vol. 60 (1), pp. 15-29, DOI: 10.1080/00380768.2013.835701
- Panagos, P., Karydas C.G., Ballabio, C., Gitas, I.Z. 2014. Seasonal monitoring of soil erosion at regional scale: An application of the G2 model in Crete focusing on agricultural land uses. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, Volume 27, Part B, April 2014, pp. 147–155
- Karydas, C.G., Panagos, P., & Gitas, I.Z. (2014): A classification of water erosion models according to their geospatial characteristics, International Journal of Digital Earth, Vol. 7, Iss. 3, 2014, pp. 229-250, DOI:10.1080/17538947.2012.671380
- Panagos, P., Meusburger, K., Alewell, C., Montanarella, L. Soil erodibility estimation using LUCAS point survey data of Europe, Environmental Modelling & Software, Volume 30, April 2012, Pages 143-145 doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2011.11.002
- Meusburger, K., Steel, A., Panagos, P., Montanarella, L., Alewell, C. Spatial and temporal variability of rainfall erosivity factor for Switzerland. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 16, 167–177, 2012. doi:10.5194/hess-16-167-2012
- Panagos, P., Karydas, C.G., Gitas, I.Z., Montanarella, L. Monthly soil erosion monitoring based on remotely sensed biophysical parameters: a case study in Strymonas river basin towards a functional pan-European service. International Journal of Digital Earth (2012), Vol. 5, Iss. 6, 2012, pp. 461-487., DOI: 10.1080/17538947.2011.587897
- M. J. Kirkby, B. J. Irvine, R. J. A. Jones, G. Govers. The PESERA coarse scale erosion model for Europe. I. – Model rationale and implementation European Journal of Soil Science 59 (6) , pp. 1293-1306 . doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2389.2008.01072.x
- Le Bissonnais Y., C. Montier, M. Jamagne, J. Daroussin, D. King (2002). Mapping erosion risk for cultivated soil in France. Catena, 46, 207-220. doi: 10.1016/S0341-8162(01)00167-9
Related Content
- Europe (Baseline)
- Erosion in Europe - Projections by 2050
- Historical reconstruction (1860-2018) of soil erosion rates
- Global Soil Erosion
- Global Soil Erosion – Future projections
- PESERA Model
- MESALES Model
- G2 Model
- Indicators on Soil Erosion
- Soil Erodibility in Europe
- Global Rainfall Erosivity
- Rainfall Erosivity in Europe
- Cover Management Factor
- Support Practices Factor
- Slope Length and Steepness factor (LS-factor)
- Sediment transport using WaTEM/SEDEM
- EUropean SEDiments collaboration (EUSEDcollab) Network
- EUropean soil ERosion field measurements at Plot scale
- Erosion in forestland
- Post-fire Soil Erosion
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 |
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Title: GloREDa | |
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Global Rainfall Erosivity, Future Global Rainfall Erosivity in 2050 and 2070, Rainfall Erosivity in Europe, Monthly erosivity Registration requested: Request Form |
Continent: Year: 2023 |
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Title: Projected Land Conservation Impacts on Global Soil Erosion and Pollination Sufficiency | |
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Functions Data, Soil Threats Data Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Global Soil Erosion Registration requested: Request Form |
Continent: Year: 2023 |
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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 | |
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Title: EUropean SEDiments collaboration (EUSEDcollab) database | |
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Sediment transport using WaTEM/SEDEM, EUropean SEDiments collaboration (EUSEDcollab) Network Registration requested: Request Form |
Continent: Year: 2023 |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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Title: Global rainfall erosivity projections for 2050 and 2070 | |
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Global Soil Erosion, Global Soil Erosion – Future projections Registration requested: Request Form |
Continent: Year: 2022 |
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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 | |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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Title: Net erosion and sediment transport using WaTEM/SEDEM (for EU) | |
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Europe (Baseline), Sediment transport using WaTEM/SEDEM Registration requested: Request Form |
Continent: Year: 2018 Keywords: RUSLE2015; Topographic factor; Sediment distribution; net soil loss; sediment deposition | |
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Attachments: NetErosioin_Deposition.jpg
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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 | |
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Title: Soil erosion by water (RUSLE2015) | |
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Europe (Baseline), Soil Erodibility in Europe, Rainfall Erosivity in Europe, Cover Management Factor, Support Practices Factor, Slope Length and Steepness factor (LS-factor) Registration requested: Request Form |
Continent: Year: 2015 Keywords: RUSLE | , soil erodibility | , rain erosivity | , Management practices | , agricultural sustainability | , policy scenarios | |
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Attachments: Soil loss by water Erosion in Europe
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Title: Cover Management factor (C-factor) for the EU | |
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Cover Management Factor Registration requested: Request Form |
Continent: Year: 2015 Publisher: European Commission, Joint Research Centre Keywords: Agriculture | , C-factor | , Cover-management | , LANDUM | , land use | , Management practices | , Tillage practices | , Plant residues | , cover crops | , soil conservation | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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Title: LS-factor (Slope Length and Steepness factor) for the EU | |
Resource Type: Datasets, Soil Threats Data Theme/Sub-Theme: Erosion by water, Slope Length and Steepness factor (LS-factor) Registration requested: Request Form |
Continent: Year: 2015 Publisher: European Commission, Joint Research Centre Keywords: Soil Erosion | , Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) | , LS-factor | , System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses (SAGA) | , Digital Elevation Model (DEM) | , europe | |
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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 |
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