According to a new study published in the journal “Earth’s Future,” the Midwest has lost approximately 57 billion metric tons of topsoil over the last 160 years. Can you imagine even with the EZ-Screen 1200XLS, how long it would take to screen 57 BILLION TONS of topsoil?
As reported by NPR, a few years ago, Isaac Larsen attended a wedding at a pioneer church in Minnesota. After the ceremony, he wandered around a cemetery by the church. Apparently, I would guess, it wasn’t a real fun wedding…I mean, really…. wandering around a cemetery?
Anyway, he noticed the cemetery, which had never been tilled, was at least a foot higher than a corn field just on the other side of a fence. The difference sparked his curiosity. Okay, here is where it must get interesting, though I think it’s kinda ghoulish.
Larsen, a soil scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, wondered how much topsoil had been lost from the region over the years. That’s a leap…from a wedding to a cemetery, to corn fields, to daydreaming how much topsoil has been lost over the years!
Soil erosion is a natural process, but it has been accelerated by human activity, such as agriculture and deforestation.
Larsen and his colleagues estimated that the Midwest has lost about 57 billion metric tons of topsoil since settlers began farming the land in the 1840s.
That’s enough soil to fill 2.3 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The findings highlight the importance of soil conservation efforts, the researchers said.
“This work provides a baseline against which we can measure the success of future conservation practices,” Larsen said in a statement. The study also has implications for the region’s water quality. When topsoil is eroded, it can end up in waterways, where it can cause algae blooms and other water problems. “The loss of topsoil has led to increased sedimentation in Midwestern streams and rivers,” said lead author Austin Becker, a doctoral student at UW-Madison.
“This sedimentation can degrade water quality, harm aquatic ecosystems and negatively impact recreation.”
Becker and Larsen used data from the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to estimate topsoil loss in each county in the Midwest. They found that the region has lost about 3.9 billion metric tons of topsoil per year since the 1850s. The highest rates of erosion were in the 1970s and 1980s.
“It’s a sobering number,” Larsen said. Perhaps he’s sober now, but I’d bet he was drinking a fair amount at the wedding…to go wandering into a cemetery!
Leave a Reply