MODULE 1

LAND

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Module 1: Land
Land: Land as a resource, types of lands, conservation of land forms, deforestation, effect of land
use changes. Soil health, ecological and economic importance of soil, impact of soil degradation on
agriculture and food security, need for soil conservation, sustainable land use planning.

Earth and Formation of Earth’s Crust

The Earth which we live in said to have formed 4.6 billion years ago. A hot ball of fire and gas
during its initial years of formation cooled down gradually and compressed into a solid rock
form in the exterior surface, maintaining molten form in the interior.

Earth has several layers: Crust, Mantle, Outer core and Inner Core

Source: Wikipedia (Author: Kelvinsong)

Crust: The crust of any rocky planet is the outermost solid shell , covering the underlying liquid
layer of mantle. Earths crust is rather a very thin shell considering the diameter of the earth. It
accounts to less than 1% of the Earth’s volume. The earth’s crust forms a important factor of the
Lithosphere. The lithosphere is broken into tectonic plates that move, allowi ng heat to escape
from the interior of the Earth into space.

Mantle: The majority of the inner structure of the earth is consisting of Ma tle. Spanning as

much as 2900km , it contains molten

o silicate. The tectonic plates are considered to be floating on
the fluidized medium of mantle, thus keeping them in continuous motion.
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Outer Core: Earth's outer core is a fluid layer about 2,400 km thick and composed of
mostly iron and nickel that lies above Earth's solid inner core and below its mantle.

Inner Core: It is the inner most part of the Earth and is said to comprise of the 1220 km radius solid core
materials. The composition of the inner core is not known exactly due to non availability of the direct sample.
Its temperature is said to be around 5000 degree Celsius.

Formation of Earth’s Crust

What once formed as hot ball of fire 4.6 billion years ago, gradually exposed to the external factors,
started cooling down the surface of the earth. The Crust, hence witnessed the hardening and
formation of land form. The atmospherical changes such as precipitation of water further
accelerated the process. The lo w lying areas of the crust started accumulating water leading to
the formation of Seas and Oceans. The landforms, in the form of tectonic plates, continue to float
on the layer of Mantle. The movements of the tectonic plates are dynamic, which led to the
formation of Continents as we see today.

Land as Resource

Land is a major constituent of the life supporting Lithosphere. It forms 1/5th of the earth surface.
It is largely covered by natural forests, wetlands, grasslands, agricultural land and urban and
rural settlements. Land is a major source of many materials essential to man and other
organisms.

Soil: Soil is the upper weathered crust of earth which supports plant growth. In all land resources
soil is of critical importance. Terrestrial plants obtain their water and mineral nutrients from the soil.
Plant and animal materials decay are released into the nutrient bank in the soil. Soil is a habitat for
many detritus organisms. The Study of origin, formation and geological distribution of soil is
called Pedology (pedion = ground, logos = discourse)

Having various physio-chemical properties, soil can take several decades o r centuries to be
formed.

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The formation of soil can be classified into two processes:

a. Weathering – breaking down of rock into smaller particles

b. Pedogenesis – maturation of soil through development of humus.

Types of Land Form:

Grass land Wetlands

Forests Agricultural land

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 Urban establishment Desert

Grasslands:

Grasslands are one of Earth’s m ajor biomes and the native vegetation of up to 40% of Earth’s ter
restrial surface. Grasslands occur on every continent except Antarctica, are ecol gically and econ
omically important, and provide critical ecosystem goods and services at local, regional,
and global scales.

Grasslands occur under a broad range of climatic conditions, though water is generally limiting
for some part of the year in most grasslands. Many grasslands experience periodic droughts and a
dormant season based on seasonal dry or cold conditions. They are sensitive to climate variabilit
y and climate changes.

Wetlands:

A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded by water, either permanently or seasonally,

where oxygen-free processes pr evail. The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other
land forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plant s adapted to the
unique hydric soil.

Wetlands play a number of functions, including water purification, water storage, processing of
carbon and other nutrients, st abilization of shorelines, and support of plants and animals.

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Wetlands are also considered th e most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to
a wide range of plant and animal life.

Forests:

A forest is a complex ecosystem which is predominantly composed of trees, shrubs and is

usually a closed canopy. Forest s are storehouses of a large variety of life for ms such as plants,
mammals, birds, insects and reptiles etc. Also the forests have abundant microorganisms and
fungi, which do the important work of decomposing dead organic matter ther eby enriching the
soil. Nearly 4 billion hectares off forest cover the earth’s surface, roughly 30 percent of its total
land area

Agricultural Land:

Agricultural land is typically land devoted to agriculture, the systematic and ontrolled use of
other forms of life particul arly the rearing of livestock and production of crops to
produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with both farmland or cr opland, as well as
pasture or rangeland

Tundra:

Tundra is a type of biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short
growing seasons. Tundra veget ation is composed of dwarf shrubs, sedges and grasses, mosses,
and lichens. The tundra soil is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus. There are three regions and
associated types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine tundra, and Antarctic tundra.

Deserts:

A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, co nsequently, living
conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. Deserts can be classified by the amount of
precipitation that falls, by the temperature that prevails, by the causes of desertification or by
their geographical location.

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 Deserts are formed by weat hering processes as large variations in temperature between day
and night put strains on the rocks, which consequently break in pieces. Although rain seldom
occurs in deserts, there are occasional downpours that can result in flash floods.

Some other land forms can be observed from the image below:

Conservation of Land Forms

Landform conservation is thee protection and wise use of the land base including its form, soil
and associated biophysical processes. It is an approach that encourages planning, design and
construction practices which:

i. Minimize disruption to natural form and related ecological processes

ii. Enhance protection of biophysical features in a natural state an d keep a greater
portion of a site in an open-space character.
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 iii. It protects the endangered flora and fauna from extinction.
iv. The traditional practices associated with these areas, are of greater importance and
must be preserved.
v. Change to landform leads to drastic effect on the climate which is a global concern.

Deforestation

Deforestation is the conversion of forested areas to non-forest land use such as arable land, urban
use, logged area or wasteland. According to Food and Agriculture Organisation of UNO,
deforestation is the conversion of forest to another land use or the long-term reduction of tree
canopy cover below the 10% threshold.

Deforestation can result from deliberate removal of forest cover for agriculture or urban
development, or it can be an uunintentional consequence of uncontrolled grazing (which can
prevent the natural regeneration of young trees). The combined effect of grazing and fires can be a
major cause of deforestation in dry areas. Deforestation implies the long-term (>10 years) or
permanent loss of forest cover.

Deforestation is not only conve rsion of forest to non forest but, degradation t hat reduces forest
quality, the density and structure of the trees, the ecological services supplie d, the biomass of
plants and animals, the species diversity and the genetic diversity.

Forest Degradation:

The deforestation can sometimes be misunderstood with the forest degr dation, or used
interchangeably. Forest degradation is a process leading to a ‘temporary or permanent
deterioration in the density or structure of vegetation cover or its species composition’. It is a
change in forest attributes that leads to a lower productive capacity caused by an increase in
disturbances.

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Forest Fragmentation:

Forest fragmentation refers to any process those results in the conversion of formerly continuous
forest into patches of forest separated by non-forested lands. Fragmentation is a complex pe
phenomenon resulting from dynamic interactions between the natural landsc ever- and society's
increasing demands on the land, creating a mosaic of natural and environments. human-modified

It is important to distinguish between the agents of deforestation and its causes. The "agents” are
those individuals, corporations, government agencies, or development projects that clear the
forests as opposed to the forces that motivate them. Causes are rather processes that leads to
deforestation.

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Causes of Deforestation:

Deforestation has been attributed to socio-demographic factors, such as population growth and
the political economy of class structure, and specific exploitation activities like commercial
logging, forest farming, fuel wood gathering, and pasture clearance for cattle production.
Deforestation from logging operations, particularly in stands of tropical moist forest, is often
claimed to occur in a two-step sequence. First, loggers build roads into primary or old-growth
forest and remove selected trees. In many places of the world, it was observe dthat the logging
operation destroys 45-74% of the residual trees.

1. Direct Causes of Deforestation

The most important direct causes of deforestation include
✓ logging,
✓ the conversion of forested lands for agriculture
✓ cattle-raising

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 ✓ Urbanization
✓ mining and oil exploitation
✓ acid rain
✓ forest fire.
Countries like Ireland and Scotland used to be almost entirely forested, but were nearly
completely cleared under British rule to provide timber for English shipbuilders.

2. Underlying Causes of Deforestation

✓ Unpriced forest goods and services
✓ Monopolies in Market
✓ Wrong incentives
✓ Improper regulatory measures
✓ Illegal activities in forest land
✓ Weak ownership of the government
✓ Population growth
✓ Economic growth
✓ Excessive consumption
✓ Global Warming
✓ War

Afforestation:

Afforestation is the conversion from other land uses into forest, or the increase of the canopy cover
to above the 10% threshold. Afforestation is the reverse of deforestation and includes areas
that are actively converted from other land uses into forest through silvicultural measures.
Afforestation also includes natural transitions into forest, for example on abandoned agricultural
land or in burnt-over areas that have not been classified as forest during the barren period.

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Reforestation:

Re-establishment of forests after deforestation due to natural sources can be ter med reforestation

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SOIL

The yield of all biotic products in terrestrial ecosystems depends on soil fertility. Soil is
composed of inorganic particles, organic matter, air, water and a variety of organisms. It takes
decades or even centuries for the development of soil horizons having different physico-chemical
properties. Human activities often create worldwide problems like soil erosion and depletion of
fertility.

“Soil” is defined by the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) as “the unconsolidated mineral or
organic material on the immediate surface of the earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth
of land plants.”

Soil Health

Soil health or soil quality is a concept that has increased in popularity over the past several years,
especially since the early 1990s. It continues to gain traction among farming and ranching
communities, soil managers, scientists, agricultural Extension specialists, and other groups that
work with soil.

Definition: The state of the soil being in sound physical, chemical, and biological condition, having
the capability to sustain the growth and development of land plants.”

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Ecological and Economical Importance of Soil

✓ Advances in watersh ed, natural resource, and environmental sciences have shown that
soil is the foundation of basic ecosystem function.
✓ Soil filters our water, provides essential nutrients to our forests and crops, and helps
regulate the Earth's temperature as well as many of the important greenhouse gases.
✓ Almost 35% of all greenhouse gases (GHG) released into the atmosphere due to
anthropogenic activities since 1850 are linked to land use changes.
✓ Crop, grazing, and forest lands, as well as wetlands, all have the potential to

contribute to or, through sound management strategies, mitigate GHG emissions

through soil carbon sequestration, while also enhancing ecosystem services. Soil
stores carbon dioxide (CO2) and other GHGs in soil organic matter.

✓ Soil organic matter offers several added benefits: it filters and clean s water, enhances
water retention and storage, mitigates the impacts of extreme weather events,

improves soil structure, reduces soil erosion, provides microbial habitats, and serves
as a source of long-term, slow-release nutrients

Importance of Soil:

• Food and other biomass production

• Environmental Interaction: storage, filtering, and transformation
• Biological habitat andd gene pool
• Source of raw materials
• Physical and cultural heritage
• Platform for man-made structures: buildings, highways

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Soil Degradation / Land Degradation and its Impact

The following can be few of the causes of Soil or Land Degradation

⏵ Soil Erosion

⏵ Loss of Soil Fertility

⏵ Land slide

⏵ Soil sealing through urbanisation and industrialisation

⏵ Soil contamination

⏵ Salination

1. Soil Erosion:
Movement of water and air removes top soil from the land by the pr ocess of erosion.

Abundant plant cover si gnificantly reduces soil erosion. Human activities accelerate soil
erosion by removing natural plant cover. From croplands in India, millions of tons of
topsoil are eroded into s ea each year. Erosion causes a significant loss of soil fertility by

transporting organic matter and nutrients that are essential part of the soil. The eroded
soil, which gets into streams, rivers and lakes in the form of sedime ts, affects water
quality and habitats of aquatic organisms.

2. Depletion of Soil Fertility

When natural vegetation is removed to develop agricultural systems, as has happened in
most parts of India and indeed in the world, not only the nutrients stored in vegetation are
removed, the organic matter and nutrients accumulated in the soil ar e also lost. From
agricultural systems, nutrients are exported through crop harvest. Thus, over a period of
time the agricultural soil inevitably loses its fertility.
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 3. Landslide Damage
The term landslide is used to refer to all kinds of rapid mass movement s involving either
rapid flow or slip. The earth mass may move during landslide by falling, sliding or
flowing or by their combination. As, landslide involves the move ment of soil and
vegetation mass, the self sustaining, soil plant system is fragmented w hich often lead to
disruption of community structure, nutrient cycling and losses of soil with nutrients from
the ecosystem. Generally the destruction of habitat results in loss of biodiversity, and
decrease in forest biom ass and soil fertility. The recovery after landslide disturbances
depends upon intensity of disturbance. If disturbance is of low intensity the recovery in
this case is faster. Recovery is delayed if the site is disturbed for long term duration.

4. Soil sealing through Urbanisation and Industrialisation

Establishment of the infrastructure for modern life, housing, roads or other land
developments is known as urbanization and the closure of the soil pores on the surface
due to the materials used for urbanization or by urbanization itself, is called as soil
sealing.
When land is sealed, thee soil is unable to perform many of its functi ons including the

absorption of rainwater for infiltration, and filtering in general. In addition sealed areas
may have a great impact
c on surrounding soils by changing water fl ow patterns. Soil
sealing is almost irreversible and there is increasing concern amongst governments and
environmental regulators at this permanent loss of soil and the associated loss of ecosystem
functions

5. Soil Contamination
The introduction of cont aminants in the soil may result in damage to or oss of individual
or several functions of soils and the possible contamination of water. The occurrence of
contaminants in soils ab ove certain levels entails multiple negative con equences for the

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 food chain and thus for human health, and for all types of ecosystems and other natural
resources

6. Salination
Salination is the accumulation in soils of soluble salts of principally sodium, magnesium,
and calcium to the extent that crop production is severely reduced. This process is often
associated with insufficient irrigation practices as irrigation water will contain variable
amounts of salts, in particular in regions where low rainfall, high evapo-transpiration
rates or soil textural characteristics impede the washing out of the salts which
subsequently buildup in the soil surface layer

Some more examples of Soil or Land Degradation can be observed in the figure

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Soil Conservation

1907 was an important year in the history of soil conservation. In that year, the United States
Department of Agriculture declared an official policy of land protection. I n the same year,
Iceland established what was to become the world’s first soil conservation servi ce.

Strategies to Conserve Soil

i. Reduce soil disturbance

ii. Crop rotation practices

iii. Cover cropping practices to promote plant diversity and living roots

iv. Diversify production systems

v. Add soil organic amend ments

vi. r
Integrate livestock into cropping systems

vii. Terrace farming

viii. Shelter belts

i. Reduce soil disturbance

Intensive soil tillage is one of the greatest catalysts for soil [Link] plough
tillage systems are a longstanding practice for land preparation in man y places, they are
the most detrimental practice to soil health in both the long and short t erm. Breaking up

the soil and intensively working it with tillage equipment can lead to many problems.
Many research studies are now showing that reduced tillage methods, such as strip tillage

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 and no tillage, can produce similar crop yields as the conventional pl ow-till method in
arid and semi-arid farmlands

ii. Crop rotation practices

Crop rotation is a method of farming in which farmers grow crops from different plant
families in a well-planned sequence over multiple seasons in the same fie ld. Crop rotation
can be of any length depending on farmers’ preferences and other conditions on the farm, or
local conservatory regulations. Cover crops also count within any rotation cycle. The key
factor in rotation is that a variety of crops belonging to different families are being grown in
the same soil. An important benefit of crop rotation is the ability to break the disease cycle
in a given field. The greater the diversity of crops you grow on your land,
the greater the diversity of soil microbiomes you will have, resulting in better soil health.

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iii. Cover cropping practices to promote plant diversity and living roots

Cover crops are plants that are grown in between cash crop cycles to protect the land
from erosion and to add root exudates and biomass for soil improve ment. Cover crop

biomass must be returned to the soil after the desired growing period for the soil health
benefit to be fully realized. Some cover crops deliver other benefits to the soil. For
example, legumes have the capacity to fix nitrogen in the soil by associating with a type
of bacteria called rhizobium. Rhizobium can convert atmospheric nitrogen to plant-
useable nitrogen. When leguminous cover crops are worked into the soil, the nitrogen
that was fixed and translocated into the plant is made available for the subsequent crop after
residue decomposition. This means that the external nitrogen demand of the cash crop
following the legume cover crop will be reduced

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iv. Diversify production systems

Diversified farming systems include practices such as mixed varieties and mixed cropping,
integrating livestock into crop production, cover cropping, crop rotation, fallowing fields,
hedgerows, buffer strips, and many other practices. Other benefits of diversified farming
systems include improvements in nutrient cycling, soil water management, pest control, and
habitats for pollinators

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 v. Add soil organic amendments

Organic amendments are any material of plant or animal origin that can be added to the
soil to improve soil conditions and stimulate biodiversity. Examples of amendments
include manure, compost, biochar, and similar materials. Long-term research studies have
shown that regular addition of organic amendments to the soil can improve soil fertility, soil
biological functions, and soil physical characteristics

vi. Integrate livestock into cropping systems

Integrating livestock into the cropping system through winter gra zing can benefit
producers by increasing the efficiency of farm resource utilization and decreasing the
need for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, while improving soil health. Livestock-
integrated systems support the growth of diverse microbial communities that promote soil
organic matter accumulation and the development of healthy soils. Grazing speeds up the
decomposition of leftover plant residues, thus enhancing the availability of nutrients like
nitrogen, phosphorus, a nd sulfur. Hoof actions of animals can bring more residue in

contact with the soil, while the saliva of the grazing animals helps the growth of
microbial decomposers, leading to better soil organic matter formation and nutrient
release.

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vii. Terrace farming

Terrace farming is the practice of cutting flat areas out of a hilly or mountainous

landscape in order to grow crops. It is a practice that has been in use from the rice fields of
Asia to the steep slopes of the Andes in South America. The use of terraces help to prevent
erosion and soil runoff, something that would be an immediate result of trying to
till a hillside into farmla nd without using terraced steps. By using terra ces, a hillside can

remain productive for as long as the soil is properly cared for and the terraces maintained.

viii. Shelter belts

In the coastal and dry regions, rows of trees are planted to check the wind movement to
protect soil cover

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