You had gone for an excursion to a mountainous region along with your teachers and classmates. On reaching there you were shocked to see bare mountains with no vegetation or greenery. What reasons did your teacher give for such a deplorable conditions of the mountains? List the solutions to rectify the problem.

I had gone for an excursion to a mountainous region with my teachers and classmates. I was shocked to see bare mountains with no vegetation or greenery. When I asked the reason for such a condition of the mountain, my teacher told me that the main reason was soil erosion. There are various causes of soil erosion:

1. The loss of vegetation cover leads to Sheet Erosion on hilly slopes because water instead of sinking into the ground washes the soil down.
2. The area also receives heavy monsoon rains which causes Sheet, Rill and Gully erosion.
3. In this area, local population practise shifting cultivation. The heavy rains then wash away the bare soil from the slopes to the valleys below.
4. Another important cause of Sheet, Rill and Gully Erosion is uncontrolled grazing of domestic animals in the upper slopes.

The solutions to rectify the problem of soil erosion are as follows:

1. Terrace Farming — On hilly slopes, terraces act as bunds and prevent the soil from being washed away by running water.
2. Contour Ploughing — Ploughing along contours on a slope prevents soil being washed away by rainwater or by surface run off. Contours act like bunds. Terraces are levelled into step-like small fields with even slope.
3. Plugging Gullies — The gullies made in the soil are plugged with deposition of silt during heavy rains.
4. Planting Trees — The trees are planted along the edges of the fields, the waste land and on steep slopes to prevent soil erosion as well as to enhance the capacity of the soil to retain water.