Humans Cause Erosion 100x’s Faster Than Normal

Author: Alexander Montoro

Experts have long linked deforestation and intensive farming to worsening erosion rates around the world. Although studied extensively, determining erosion rates due to human-induced activities has rarely been quantified by scientists. However, new research conducted by geologists finds that erosion rates in the southeastern United States increased one hundred times after the arrival of European colonists in the 1700s due to tree clearing and unsustainable agriculture practices.

One of the researchers, Paul Biermann, a geologist from the University of Vermont, told mongabay.com that he has been studying erosion rates and landscape change ever since he came to Vermont and saw the dramatic human imprint on the landscape.

Bierman explained that there are two primary types of human activities that are responsible for increased soil erosion rates in the southeastern United States: “the removal of the trees and thus their root systems which stabilize the soil on slopes and the advent of tillage agriculture which loosens the soil and makes it susceptible to water and wind erosion.”

In order to determine the impact of human activities on erosion rates, geologists had to first establish background (geologic) rates of erosion. They conducted research at ten large river basins (10,000-100,000 square kilometers) in the southern Appalachian piedmont region from Virginia to Alabama. These ten river basins sites all had a history of large-scale native forest clearing and intensive agriculture use starting in the 1700s and experienced maximum land use in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

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