As we all know, the soil erosion can be influenced by the human activities and climate change. We can use the model and experiment to quantify how much the human activities influence the modern soil erosion. But when we research on the history soil erosion, we cannot do this. So I just wonder how can we make sure that this human activities event cause the soil erosion?
By combining multiple lines of evidence, including environmental proxies, historical records, and computer models, researchers can develop a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that contribute to soil erosion over time. This can help to identify the specific human activities that have had the greatest impact on soil erosion in different regions and time periods.
The earth is self-sustaining and self-regenerating. This can only work when the natural processes that control these are not tampered with by humans. For example, clearing of forests and other vegetated lands for agricultural purposes and conventional tillage deplete the soil's carbon storage, which was meant to protect the soil, improve infiltration, and aid water transmission through its ability to reduce bulk density and increase porosity.
Compaction also results from human activities and reduces soil storage and transmission capacities. Any human activity that reduces the pore volume of the soil, depletes soil carbon, or exposes the soil to structural degradation is enough to be considered as a factor for soil erosion.
If it is limited to a certain timeframe, it may be possible to do it using aerial photo interpretation of the area being studied.
Using aerial photography.
Comparing over time from aerial photographs of changes in the use of a particular area will greatly help evaluate erosion conditions in the area being analyzed for soil erosion conditions.
On the basis of the interpretation of changes in land use over time, it can be followed up with field surveys to obtain the next possible steps that can be taken to make soil erosion data more accurate, such as soil texture data, soil organic matter content data, etc.
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