Pulse One: Eroded soil ends up in reservoirs and lakes, affecting aquatic life. It silts up shorelines, harbors, and river channels, requiring dredging. The first pulse came when agriculture in the Middle East, India, and China emerged from the river valleys and spread over former forest lands. This occurred slowly, say between 2000 B.C to 1000 AD, as states, economies, and population grew- and as iron tools made clearing forest easier. Where ever existing vegetation was cut or burned to make way for crops or animals, faster erosion resulted. China’s loess plateau typifies the first pulse. Some 40 million people live in an area the size of France; it is one of the worlds most eroded landscapes; soil consist of windborne deposits from Mongolia; before cultivation forests cover most of the loess plateau; by 1990 soil erosion carries off 2.2 billion tons of topsoil a year; the soil in the Dahe gave it the name “Yellow river”.[Learn More ...]

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