Soil erosion in England and Wales: can we identify the causes?

Soil erosion on arable land in England and Wales is frequently observed and occasionally severe in character. Off-site impacts of flooding and pollution are of particular ecological and financial concern to those affected. This short review aims to debate the influence and interaction of causative factors as discussed in the literature of soil erosion events in England and Wales. Factors that influence erosion dictate the location of the events. Of these factors, rainfall is often assumed to be dominant, but the condition of the soil surface, both natural and the product of farming operations, strongly influences infiltration and therefore runoff and erosion. Soil particle size and organic matter content influence the breakdown of soil aggregates; and the formation of compact surface crusts. Vegetation cover, related to the type of crop grown, is important, but farming practices such as the production of fine tilths, the rolling of crops and the size of fields, can all be crucial. Many agricultural practices lead to compaction of soils, which is increasingly recognised as a factor causing erosion. However, erosion is rarely the product of one factor, such as soil type or rainfall, but rather of combinations of interacting factors such as rain falling on an erodible soil that has been compacted. Future changes in land use and the frequency of intense rainfall events are likely to influence soil erosion on arable land.