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Atlas (Beta)

Soil Erosion

WorldPhysical Environment

Areas of soil degradation where human activities result in high or very high levels of water and wind erosion

A map highlights the regions of the world with areas affected by wind erosion highlighted in dark red and water erosion-affected areas highlighted in dark blue.

In North America, wind erosion significantly impacts the Great Plains in southern Canada and the adjacent northern Great Plains of the United States. This issue extends to the southern plains, affecting regions in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. Water erosion is prevalent in the eastern plains, the Midwest, parts of the Mississippi River Valley, Michigan, southern Ontario, and the mountainous areas of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. In the western United States, water erosion affects parts of California and eastern Washington, while wind erosion is notable in the deserts of southern California, Arizona, and Nevada. Western Mexico faces water erosion along its length, which continues through Central America to Panama and includes major Caribbean islands like Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Wind erosion is also observed in northern Mexico.

In South America, water erosion is prominent along the Andes mountains from Venezuela to Bolivia, in central Chile south of Santiago, and along Brazil's Atlantic coast from Recife southward to southeastern areas. The southern Andes of Bolivia and northern Chile experience wind erosion, as does east-central Brazil. Northwestern Europe sees minimal soil erosion, but water erosion does occur in Spain, southeastern and central Europe, and western Russia, extending into Siberia in Asia. Ukraine and southern Russia are susceptible to wind erosion.

In North Africa, wind erosion affects the northern Sahara from Algeria to western Egypt and extends across the Sahel from Mauritania to Sudan. Sub-Saharan Africa has scattered water erosion patches in West Africa, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, southern Africa (notably South Africa), and Madagascar. Southwest Asia experiences widespread wind erosion on the Arabian Peninsula and in Iran, while water erosion impacts Turkey, northern Iran, Yemen, and southern Oman. Central Asia faces water erosion in northwestern Kazakhstan and Afghanistan. In South Asia, northwest India deals with wind erosion, whereas water erosion is widespread across India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and parts of Bangladesh.

Southeast Asia encounters extensive water erosion in Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia (particularly Borneo and Java). East Asia experiences water erosion in large parts of eastern China and wind erosion in northern China, eastern Mongolia, and various areas in western China. In Oceania, small areas of water erosion are found in eastern and western Australia, Vanuatu, and New Zealand’s North Island.

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Soil Erosion		Change in U.S. Summer Temperature from the 1901-1960 Period to the 1986-2016 Period																																																																Natural Gas Production by Country
Wind erosion	Water erosion	South Central	Northeast	Southeast	Northeast	West	Central	North Central	Central	Southwest	Upper Delta	Southeast	Northeast	West Central	Upper Plains	East Central	Northeast Prairie	North Central	West Central	East Central	West Southwest	East Central	Central	South Central	Coastal Plain	South Central	Central	Northern Valley	Northwest Prairie	Southeast	Lower Delta	North Central	Northeast	South Central	Southeast	South Central	West Central Plains	Central	Northwest	East Central	South Central	Central	East Central	South Central	Southwest	Southwest	Eastern	Prairie	North Central	Bootheel	Southeast	East Southeast	Northwest	East	Northwest	Southeast	Appalachian Mountain	North Central	Central	East Central	Southwest	South Central	East Ozarks	East Central	South Central	Northwest	Southeast	Southwest	North Central	Northeast	Southwest	Low Rolling Plains	Southeast	Southeast	Central	Northeast	Southwest	Southeast	East Central	Northeast	North Central	Eastern	West Ozarks	Northwest	Central	Southwest	Central	West Central	Western	North Central	Gulf	Southeast	Northeast	Western Plateau	Cumberland Plateau	North Central	Western	Edwards Plateau	Central	West Central	Blue Grass	Central	East Central	Middle	Piedmont Plateau	Central	Southern	North Central	Panhandle	Northeast	Southeast	Southwestern	South Central	West Central	Eastern Valley	Northeast	Southwest Plateau	East Texas	South Central	Central Mountains	West Central	Central	Northwest	Southwest	East Central	Northeast	North Central	Northwestern	West Central	Coastal	Southwestern Mountain	Southwest	Southern Mountains	Southwest	South Central	Central	Northwest	South Central	Central	West Central	Mountain	North Central	Southwest	North Central	West Central	West Central	Northwest	South Central Lower	Central Lakes	Allegheny Plateau	South Central Mountains	Northwest	West Central	South Central	Northeastern	Southwest	North Central	Northeast	Central Mountain	South Panhandle	Mohawk Valley	Northwest	Southwest	Upper Susquehanna	Central Hills	South	Southwest Lower	South Central	Northwest	Northwest	East Central	North Central	Southeast	Aleutians	Northeast Interior	Central	Northern Mountains	Northwest Plateau	Middle Susquehanna	Northeastern	Snake Drainage	Western Piedmont	Eastern Plateau	Northeast	Upper Coast	Northwest	Southeast Interior	Central	North Central	Northwest	West Central	Appalachian Mountains	Southeastern	Central Piedmont	North Central	East Central	Central Coastal Plain	Northeast Hills	Northeastern	Southwest	High Plains	North	Eastern Piedmont	North	Northern Piedmont	Great Lakes	Northern Coastal Plain	Bristol Bay	Southern Piedmont	Northwest Gulf	East Central	Southeast	Northern Plateau	West Olympic Coast	North	Cook Inlet	Central	North Central	Champlain Valley	South Interior	Southern	West Central Lower	Black Hills	Northeast	Southern Coastal Plain	South Central	Lower Valley	Yellowstone Drainage	Wind River	Central Lower	North Central	Okanogan Big Bend	Southeast Lower	Northeast	Cheyenne Niobrara Drainage	Northeast Gulf	East Central Lower	Northeast	Central Interior	Tidewater	Pocono Mountains	West Upper	Northern	Western	Kansas Drainage	East Upper	Arkansas Drainage	Everglades and Southwest Coast	East Olympic Cascade Foothills	Panhandle	West	St	Central Basin	Cascade Mountains West	Northern Cascades	Puget Sound Lowlands	Northern Mountains	Rio Grande Drainage	Southwestern Mountains	East Central Mountains	South Central	Big Horn	Lower Susquehanna	Powder, Little Mo and Tongue Drainages	South	Southeast	Eastern Highlands	Lower East Coast	West Coast	Northeastern	North Slope	Hudson Valley	Southeastern	Southwestern	Trans Pecos	Northeastern Plains	Coastal	Belle Fourche Drainage	North Central Prairies	Panhandle	Northwest	Upper Snake River Plains	Western	North Central	East Slope Cascades	Green and Bear Drainage	Northeast Lower	Southern Desert	Central	Lower Southern	Platte Drainage	Central Mountains	Willamette Valley	Coastal Area	Upper Platte	Central	Sacramento Drainage	Southwestern Highlands	North Central Canyons	Southeastern Piedmont	East Central	Lower Platte	Northeast	Northeastern Shore	Northeast	Northeastern Valleys	Northeastern	Northwest Lower	North Central	Northwestern Plateau	Upper Southern	Southwestern Valleys	Central Eastern Shore	Northern	North Coast Drainage	Palouse Blue Mountains	Northern Mountains	Coastal	San Joaquin Drainage	Central Valley	Central Coast Drainage	Northern	High Plateau	Northeast Interior Basins	Coastal	Central Plains	Southeast	Southern	Southeastern Shore	Western	Central Highlands	Southeastern Plains	Northwest	South Central	North Central	Rhode Island (Entire State)	Northwestern	Southern	Coastal	South Central	Colorado Drainage	North Central	Southwestern Valleys	South Central	South Coast Drainage	Coastal	Southwest	Dixie	Uinta Basin	Southeast	Southeast Desert Basins	Extreme Southern	South Central	Class	Rank	Billion Cubic Feet







18.0%	18.3%

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