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DEGRADATION AND CONTROL PROCESSES |
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Degradation process:
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Due to the elimination of soil and water conservation measures associated with mechanization or the unification of plots
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Description:
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The elimination of old terraces increases the average slope length, which - in turn - increases both the volume of runoff and its speed. This leads to an increase in the erosive power of water. Rills rapidly appear.
Importance: high in areas with intensive agriculture.
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The elimination of old soil and water conservation measures to favour mechanization increases the risk of erosion.
La Segarra (J. Porta)
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Valley floor where soil and water conservation measures have been eliminated and which has been ploughed following the steepest slope.
The risk of erosion is very high. La Segarra
(J. Porta)
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Easy access to powerful machinery makes it
possible to drastically modify the existing form
of the land and prepare it for planting vines.It
is necessary to foresee the potential repercussions
of topsoil removal. It is also important to design,
calculate and implement soil and water conservation
measures in order to ensure a sustainable vineyard.
Anoia (J. Porta)
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Biomass production (need for greater inputs to maintain crop yields), environmental functions (filtration), hydrological function, reduction of carbon sequestration, functions for preventing offsite effects (sediment supply during floods, silting up of dams).
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Prevention and control:
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To permit mechanization, a compromise must be reached between the need for plantations with rows as straightest as possible and the implementation of soil and water conservation measures. Terrace and channel design should be accompanied by pertinent calculations taking into account local rainfall characteristics and land morphology in order to ensure that runoff and drainage water circulation are not erosive.
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