WIND EROSION

The power of wind to cause erosion is not always recognised. Wind with a velocity of 40km/hr
can remove 150 tons of dry soil from one hectare in one hour. In the case of erosion caused by
water, a loss of that magnitude over a whole year is considered excessive and will be cause for
alarm. In the coastal areas, there are large areas of wind-blown sand which are very vulnerable to
wind erosion.

SOIL MOVEMENT BY WIND

There are three distinct ways in which soil is moved by the wind:
• Suspension - The finest particles are taken up in suspension in the air and may be
blown to great heights and over long distances. Dust storms are typical examples
of soil movement by suspension.

• Creep - The largest particles that can be moved by wind are rolled along the
surface of the ground.

· Saltation - This is the movement of soil by means of a series of low bounces over
the surface. The soil particles bounce into te air to a height of 300 to 900mm.
They are then carried on by the wind for a distance of 3 to 10m ( depending upon
the wind velocity) before striking the ground with considerable force, and then
rebound and repeat the process. Where they strike the soil, other soil particles are
knocked out of the soil mass to start bouncing by themselves or to go into
suspension. These bouncing particles are also responsible for damage to tender
vegetation such as emerging crops. It has been proved that by controlling the
bouncing particles, wind erosion can be stopped. Programmes for the control of
wind erosion, therefore, concentrate mainly on keeping particles in place.

DAMAGE CAUSED BY WIND EROSION

The actual loss of soil from the land is the most serious kind of damage caused by wind erosion.
Under conditions favourable to wind erosion, a windstorm of several days’ duration could
remove all the topsoil from a ploughed land, right down to plough depth.

During wind storms, the finer particles are removed first and may be blown over long distances.
These fine particles usually contain a lot of plant nutrients. Apart from loss of fertility, these
finer particles consist of the colloidal substances which cement soil particles together to form
granules. The fewer soil granules there are, the more susceptible the soil will be to wind erosion.

If the wind erosion process is allowed to go unchecked, the fine and medium sized particles may
ultimately be removed and a gravelly surface may remain, with particles larger than 2mm - a
so-called desert pavement of no use for anything.

Other disadvantages of wind erosion may include:

 • Damage of tender crops by abrasion through soil particles being blown against
such crops.

• Seeds and emerging seedlings may be blown out of the soil.

• Plants may be buried in soil drifts.

• Weed seeds may be distributed together with the drifting and blown soil.

• Drifting soil will collect wherever there are obstructions such as fences, vegetated
turning strips along the edges of lands, road verges, road and railway fills and
cuts. Often these drifts have to be removed at great cost in the interest of safety
and/ or convenience.

FACTORS CAUSING WIND EROSION

The following factors will determine the amount of wind erosion that may occur on a specific
piece of land:

• The susceptibility of the soil to wind erosion

• The local wind conditions

• The roughness of the soil surface

• The width of the land in the direction of the prevailing winds

• The vegetative cover.

Soil Characteristics

Soil with a tendency to blowing is usually a light fine sand with little of the structure-forming or
soil -binding components such as organic matter. Some heavier soils which contain a high
percentage of fine sand (particles between 0.02 and 0.2 mm diameter) may also blow at times.
Even a soil relatively resistant to wind erosion can gradually become more vulnerable if it is left
exposed to erosive wind, due to the progressive removal of the finer soil-binding components.
Coastal and riverbed sands which have practically no soil binding components are also examples
of vulnerable soils.

Wind Conditions

The erosivity of wind varies with the cube of it’s velocity. In other words: if the velocity of the
wind is doubled, the amount of soil that can be moved is increased eight fold. Conversely,
halving the wind velocity can reduce the amount of soil moved to one eighth.
Surface Roughness

A rough surface, such as a cloddy soil or plough furrows, will cause increasing eddies near the
ground if a wind blows across it. These eddies will retard the velocity of the wind in contact with
the soil and thus reduce the ability of the wind to move the soil.

Width of Land

The rate of soil movement increases with the distance from the windward edge of a land. This
means that the wider a land, the greater the rate of wind erosion and vice versa.

Vegetation

Close growing vegetation, hugging the surface of the soil, will practically prevent any soil
movement, because the wind does not come into direct contact with the soil. Crop residues and
mulches can fulfil the same function.

Vegetation, not hugging the surface of the soil, varying from tufted grasses, small grains such as
wheat, taller vegetation such as maize, sorghum and shrubs, and up to the tallest trees, can
control wind velocity in the following ways:

• By filtering the wind through the stems, branches and leaves.

• By the turbulence created when the wind passes through them.

• By deflecting the rest of the wind upward.

CONTROL OF WIND EROSION ON ARABLE LANDS

The following measures can be employed to control wind erosion:

Control of Soil Factors

Control of the soil factors consists mainly in applying practices that will improve the structure of
the soil and in avoiding practices that will destroy the structure.
The organic matter in the soil should be maintained at a high level by leaving crop residues on
the land; by application of manure and / or compost; and by suitable rotations. The structure can
also be improved by judicious applications of fertiliser and lime.
Wrong tillage practises are responsible for much of the destruction of the soil structure. The
following tillage practices must be observed:

• Avoid tilling of dry soil. Tillage should be performed as soon as practical after a
rain.

• Avoid tilling practices and implements that pulverise the soil. Among these are
 high cultivation speeds ( in excess of 6 to 8 km/hr) and disc ploughs and harrows,
tine harrows and rotovators.

• Trampling of the soil by animals grazing on crop residues can also cause
pulverisation.

• A moist soil will blow less than a dry soil. Every effort should be made to
increase infiltration and reduce evaporation by practices such as contour
cultivation and mulching to improve the moisture status of the soil and thereby its
resistance to wind erosion.

Surface Roughness

A rough cloddy surface is effective in preventing blowing. A fine seed bed may be excellent
from the point of view of germination, but may be fatal from the point of view of wind erosion.
Clods can be formed by ploughing the soil when it is still relatively moist.
If the surface soil has already lost most of its clay particles, so that firm clods are no longer
formed, clods can be ploughed up by ploughing deeply with a chisel plough or sub soiler.
Roughness can be created by ploughing ridges at right angles to the main wind direction.
Ridging should be supplemented by other measures, otherwise the furrows may fill up with
blown soil.

Vegetative Control

The maintenance of a protective cover on the surface of the soil is the most important factor in
wind erosion control. In this respect the following practices could be followed:

Strip Cropping

If a crop does not give sufficient cover during the most windy period, it should be rotated with
crops which do. With such rotations the different crops are usually planted in strips ( a minimum
10m wide) across the wind direction. This will ensure that at least part of the area is protected
and that soil blown from the vulnerable strips will be caught and held by the other strips.

Stubble Mulching

The maximum use of crop residues should be made. The residue stubble of the previous crop
should be kept standing on the land for as long as practicable possible. The higher and denser the
stubble is , the better it will protect the soil. If possible, the next crop should be planted in the
stubble of the previous year. The old stubble should be flattened or incorporated in the soilonly
when the new crop has reached the stage where it can protect the soil by itself.
If the crop is rotated in alternate strips with intact stubble, the advantages of both strip cropping
and stubble mulching will be combined.

Windbreaks
Wind breaks may vary from strips of grass or shrubs of approximately 500mm high, up to rows
of trees 15m high.
Windbreaks are able to reduce wind velocities for distances of 5 to 10 times their height on the
windward side and 10 to 30 times their height on the leeward side. For planning purposes, it may
be taken that a windbreak will shelter 5 times the height on the wind ward side and 15 times on
the leeward side.
Wind breaks should consist of several rows of trees and should have a uniform density from
ground level to top.

Tillage

The golden rule is: Till as little as possible. In the case of row crops, only the strip taken up by
the plant row need be cultivated. Weed killers can be used to control weeds.
The used of correct tillage implements is most important. Implements that turn the soil, such as
mouldboard and disc ploughs, should be used only in humid and sub-humid areas. Disc harrows
should be used only to chop and partly bury crop residues. They should never be used to
cultivate smooth bare soil with a tendency to blow.
Spike tooth harrows should be avoided because they pulverise the soil. Spring-tooth harrows are
better because they penetrate deeper into the soil, bring clods to the surface, and result in some
ridging.
Duckfoot cultivators, chisel- type tools, V-blades and rod weeders can do a good job of
destroying weeds and bringing up clods, with little disturbance of the surface.