3 Soil Erosion Processes
Colby Moorberg and Brooke Hogan
Abbreviations
ASA – American Society of Agronomy
CSSA – Crop Science Society of America
EPA – US Environmental Protection Agency
PDF – Portable Document Format
RUSLE – Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation
SSSA – Soil Science Society of America
URL – Uniform Resource Locator
US – United States
USDA – US Department of Agriculture
USLE – Universal Soil Loss Equation
WEPP – Water Erosion Prediction Project
WEPS – Wind Erosion Prediction System
WEQ – Wind Erosion Equation
Coastal Erosion
National Research Council. 2007. “Chapter 2 Understanding Erosion on Sheltered Shores.” In Mitigating Shore Erosion Along Sheltered Coasts, 25–43. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/11764.
This book chapter from the National Research Council includes information on the fundamentals of shoreline erosion. The chapter has three sections: “The Physics of Coastal Erosion,” “Spatially and Temporally Variable Factors Controlling Coastal Erosion,” and “Implications of Geomorphic Settings for Erosion Mitigation Strategies.”
Short, A. D. 2012. “Coastal Processes and Beaches.” Nature Education Knowledge 3 (10): 15. https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/coastal-processes-and-beaches-26276621.
This Nature Education Knowledge Project web page uses an encyclopedia-style approach to convey concepts of coastal processes and beaches. Short provides concise summaries of major coastal processes, including wave generation and types, tides and tidal currents, wind and currents, sea level, and overviews of beach systems, beach sediment types and sources, beach subsystems, beach types, and barriers. This web page includes many relevant and useful photographs and figures, as well as additional reading.
Sloss, C. R., M. Shepherd, and P. Hesp. 2012. “Coastal Dunes: Geomorphology.” Nature Education Knowledge 3 (10): 2. https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/coastal-dunes-geomorphology-25822000.
This Nature Education Knowledge Project web page uses an encyclopedia-style approach to describe coastal dunes. Sloss begins with an explanation of the classification of coastal dunes and explains primary dunes and secondary dunes. Primary dunes are the result of accumulated beach sediment. Over time, primary dunes are increasingly influenced by vegetation as they become isolated from the beach. Types of primary dunes include incipient, established, and relict foredunes. Eventually primary dunes become so cut off from the sediment supply and prevailing erosional processes from the beach that secondary dunes form. Secondary dunes include blowouts, parabolic dunes, and transgressive sand sheets and dunefields. Photographs and diagrams provide visual examples of each dune type. The webpage has references and recommended readings at the end.
Streambank Erosion
Burnette, Matthew C., and Carmen T. Agouridis. 2014. “Streambank Erosion.” Extension Publication AEN-124. Lexington, KY: University of