SOIL EROSION CONTROL OVER

HILLSLOPE AREA

ARSHAD. S
S6, CE
ROLL NO: 8

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS SOIL EROSION

TYPES OF SOIL EROSION METHOD

COMMONLY USED SOIL EROSION CONTROL METHODS

Strip farming
Terrace
Contour plowing
Gabion
Use of gabion in civil engineering

CONCLUSION

Introduction
Erosion control is the practice of preventing or controlling wind or water erosion in
agriculture, land development and construction. Effective erosion controls are important
techniques in preventing water pollution and soil loss. Erosion controls are used in natural
areas, agricultural settings or urban environments. In urban areas erosion controls are
often part of storm water runoff management programs required by local governments .
Management of soil for water and wind erosion control is based on sensible soil
conservation practices. The majority of these practices are recognized components of good
soil, crop, and water management. For effective erosion control:
a. maintain good soil structure
b. protect the soil surface by adequate crop and residue cover, and
c. Use special structural erosion control practices where necessary.
These factors often control both water and wind erosion. Not all erosion control practices
will fit into every farm management scheme. However, each erosion problem can be
remedied by choosing one or more of the remedial practices appropriate to the problem.

Types of soil erosion control methods

Erosion control methods include:

buffer strip

conservation tillage

contour bunding

contour plowing

cover crops

fiber rolls

gabions

perennial crops

riparian strip

riprap

strip farming

terracing

Commonly used soil erosions methods

Strip farming
Strip cropping is a method of farming used when a slope is too steep or too long, or otherwise, when one
does not have an alternative method of preventing soil erosion. Strip cropping alternates strips of closely sown
crops such as hay, wheat, or other small grains with strips of row crops, such as corn, soybeans, cotton,
or sugar beets.
Strip cropping helps to stop soil erosion by creating natural dams for water, helping to preserve the strength of
the soil. Certain layers of plants will absorb minerals and water from the soil more effectively than others.
When water reaches the weaker soil that lacks the minerals needed to make it stronger, it normally washes it
away. When strips of soil are strong enough to slow down water from moving through them, the weaker soil
can't wash away like it normally would. Because of this, farmland stays fertile much longer.
The term strip cropping also refers to a method of dry farming sometimes used in areas including parts of
the Great Plains of the United States and the Prairies of Canada.

Terrace
In agriculture, a terrace is a piece of sloped plane that has been cut into a series of successively receding flat
surfaces or platforms, which resemble steps, for the purposes of more effective farming. This type of
landscaping, therefore, is called terracing. Graduated terrace steps are commonly used to farm on hilly or
mountainous terrain.
Terraced fields both decrease erosion and surface runoff, and may be used to support growing crops that
require irrigation, such as rice. The rice terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras have been designated as
UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the significance of this technique.
Terraced paddy fields are used widely in rice, wheat and barley farming in east, south, and southeast Asia, as
well as other places. Drier-climate terrace farming is common throughout the Mediterranean Basin, e.g., in
Catalonia, where they were used for vineyards, olive trees, cork oak, etc., on Mallorca, or in Cinque
Terre, Italy.

Contour plowing
Contour ploughing or contour farming is the farming practice of ploughing and/or planting across a slope
following its elevation contour lines. These contour lines create a water break which reduces the formation of
rills and gullies during times of heavy water run-off; which is a major cause of top soil loss and soil erosion.
The water break also allows more time for the water to settle into the soil. In contour ploughing, the ruts made
by the plow run perpendicular rather than parallel to slopes, generally resulting in furrows that curve around
the land and are level. This method is also known for preventing tillage erosion.

Tillage erosion is the soil movement and erosion caused by tilling a given plot of land. A similar practice
is contour bunding where stones are placed around the contours of slopes.
Soil erosion prevention practices such as this can drastically decrease negative effects associated with soil
erosion such as reduced crop productivity, worsened water quality, lower effective reservoir water levels,
flooding, and habitat destruction .Contour farming is considered an active form of sustainable agriculture.

Gabion
A gabion is a cage, cylinder, or box filled with rocks, concrete, or sometimes sand and soil for use in civil
engineering, road building, and military applications. For dams or in foundation construction, cylindrical metal
structures are used. In a military context, earth- or sand-filled gabions are used to protect artillery crews from
enemy fire.

Use of gabion in Civil engineering

The most common civil engineering use of gabions is to stabilize shorelines, stream banks or slopes
against erosion. Other uses include retaining walls, temporary floodwalls, silt filtration from runoff, for small or
temporary/permanent dams, river training, or channel lining. They may be used to direct the force of a flow
of flood water around a vulnerable structure.

A gabion wall is a retaining wall made of stacked stone-filled gabions tied together with wire. Gabion walls are
usually battered (angled back towards the slope), or stepped back with the slope rather than stacked
vertically.

CONCLUSION

Erosion control measures are intended to prevent and/or reduce movement of eroded soil sediments offsite/land. Selection of the proper erosion control measure must take into consideration the magnitude and
type of erosion, as well as the resources available for implementation.