Human Activities affect Soil

Soil is a resource that you can’t live without. Whether its supplying you with food, oxygen, or clean water. It sustains life!

Human Activities affect Soil

Activities that affect soil resources are:

1. Farming

2. Construction and development

3. Mining

Human Activities affect Soil Farming is how

humans have received their food for over 10,000 years.

Farmers often add nutrients to their soils in the form or organic or artificial fertilizers to make crops grow better.

Human Activities affect Soil Over time farming

practices can lead to the loss of soil.

Such as when farmers clear land

American farmers lose about 5 metric tons of soil for every ton of grain they produce.

Human Activities affect Soil Overgrazing can also

occur, which is when farm animals eat large amounts of land cover.

Just like when farmers clear trees, this prevents the soil to wash or blow away.

This can cause desertification

Human Activities affect Soil To make various

buildings and sites people need to dig up soil.

A lot of this can cause the soil to wash or be blown away which can cause rivers and lakes to become muddy.

Human Activities affect Soil The affects can lead

to flooding or can fill up lakes and reservoirs.

Human Activities affect Soil Certain methods of

mining can also cause soil loss.

Human Activities affect Soil Strip mining and open pit mining involves

the removal of plants. This can cause more exposure to air and

water, which can speed up the process of chemical weathering

Human Activities affect Soil The speed up of chemical weathering can

cause a type of pollution called acid drainage.

This acid can seep into the soil and be harmful to plants trying to grow.

Human Activities affect Soil Soil is so

important to not only humans but the world. So its important that we conserve our soil.

Human Activities affect Soil There are 5 methods for soil conservation

1. Crop Rotation

2. Conservation Tillage

3. Terraces

4. Contour Plowing

5. Windbreaks

Human Activities affect Soil Crop Rotation is the

practice of planting different crops on the same field in different years or growing seasons.

Human Activities affect Soil As you move your

crops the harvest will remove different nutrients from the soil, thus not depleting the soil.

Human Activities affect Soil Conservation Tillage

includes the way farmers limit the number of times fields are tilled or plowed in a year.

The less the soil is disturbed the less likely it will be blown or washed away.

Human Activities affect Soil Terracing are fields that

are set up as flat step like areas built on a hillside to hold rainwater and prevent it from running downhill.

Crops are planted on the flat tops of the terraces.

Human Activities affect Soil Contour plowing is

plowing on the curves of slopes. It helps so that rainwater does not run straight downhill.

Human Activities affect Soil Windbreaks are

rows of trees planted between fields to “break” or reduce the number of force winds that can carry off soil.