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Soil erosion and land degradation are global problems and pose major issues in many countries. Both soil erosion and mass movement are two forms of land degradation and humans play important roles in these geomorphological processes. This paper reviews slope processes associated with mass movement and soil erosion and contributory factors, including physical and human agents. Acting together, these cause diverse geomorphological features. Slope processes are illustrated by reference to case studies from Brazil and UK. The causes and impacts of erosion are discussed, along with appropriate remedial bioengineering methods and the potential of the measures to prevent these types of environmental degradation. Although there are several agents of erosion, water is the most important one. Cultivation can promote soil erosion, due to ploughing and harvesting, which moves soil down slopes. Soil erosion and mass movement data would inform the viability of soil conservation practices. Integrated management of drainage basins offers a promising way forward for effective soil conservation and soil remedial bioengineering in Brazil and UK

Brazil covers 8

No abstract

Field and laboratory studies indicate that utilisation of biological geotextiles constructed from palm-leaves and other selected organic materials are an effective, sustainable and economically viable soil conservation technique. The three-year plus

This paper analyses the contribution of biological geotextiles to gully stabilization\ud in the urban area of Sa˜o Luis City (Sacave´m District). Biological geotextile mats\ud were constructed from palm leaves. At Sacave´m, gully rehabilitation included the following\ud techniques: (1) installation of Buriti geotextiles, in association with barriers of\ud wooden stakes and the construction of contoured terraces; (2) analysis of sediment particle\ud size and (3) photograph comparison of the development of vegetal cover. Rehabilitation\ud used *30 kg of grass seeds (Brachiaria decumbens) on slopes, in combination with\ud geotextiles. Besides recuperating a degraded area, income has been generated to poor\ud people, who live around Sacave´m gully, either by producing the geotextiles or by applying\ud them on the soil, together with grass seeds, lime and NPK to improve soil properties

Abstract. The effect of organic matter content and other soil properties on soil erosion in the Rogate area, West Sussex, UK, was assessed using a rainfall simulator. Thirty soil samples (Podzols, Brown sands, Brown earths, Alluvial gley and Podzolized brown sands) collected from eroded and uneroded fields were exposed to 50 mm/h and 70 mm/h simulated rainfall. The results show that organic matter content influences soil erosion, through its effect on the stability of aggregates.

Resumo: O presente trabalho aborda a temática relacionada a experimentos e monitoramentos em erosão dos solos, tendo em vista que tem sido através dessas técnicas que o campo de conhecimento relativo aos processos erosivos tem tido um grande avanço. Com o avanço das técnicas citadas pode-se aprofundar o conhecimento sobre a erosão dos solos, propiciando conseqüentemente o avanço dessas técnicas. Uma série de exemplos e estudos de casos foi aqui abordada, não só com o objetivo de ilustrar o tema em questão, mas também para chamar a atenção da necessidade e da importância que essa temática possui num campo mais abrangente, que é a Geografia Física. Dessa forma, é preciso destacar que a abordagem aqui dada para essa temática refere-se ao que os geomorfólogos vêm desenvolvendo nesse campo de conhecimento, procurando entender como a dinâmica do processo erosivo se dá, levando em conta variáveis climáticas, geomorfológicas, pedológicas, hidrológicas e também as relativas ao uso da terra e cobertura vegetal, que são de grande importância na detonação dos processos erosivos.