Joan Jaumà

WINDBREAKS AGAINST WIND EROSION

Nowadays, we know that wind is a very powerful source of energy from nature which can cause a lot of
damage, but ancient civilizations already knew it. In ancient times the elements which people thought that
formed everything were considered wind, water and fire. In some civilizations as the Greek or the Roman,
they attributed gods to lots of things, some gods were wind gods, one example is Austro (Roman god of
south wind) which citizens feard because he could cause big storms and could destroy the harvests. As we
can see wind can cause damage to harvest as the ancients said and the reason is that wind is a serious
environmental problem in areas which are flat, dry, have sand soils and without vegetation.

Scientifically, wind is an erosionant, and its erosion can damage land and vegetation. This is because wind
removes soil from one place to another where it deposits the taken matter. This causes that in some areas
the amount of soil decreases because of the soil loss, and also causes dryness and deterioration of the soil
structure. Also nutrients and harvest productivity decrease and appears air pollution because of soil
movement. This soil movement is initiated as a result of wind forces exerted against the surface of the
ground. The quantity of soil moved is dependent upon the particle size, the cloddiness of particles, and
wind velocity itself.

An example of a place where wind erosionats the soil is Ontario (Canada), where we can also find a solution
that they use against the wind, and it's called windbreaker. It consists of a row of trees that are collocated in
a specific form which stop the wind. The kind of trees they vary depending on the wind in the region and
the usage. For example, in Ontario they use windbreakers around the harvest with tall trees, because in
addition of stoping the wind it helps with the snow and the moisture. By reducing wind speed, windbreaks
modify the climate in the areas they shelter. The effects of reduced wind speed are:

• Moderated soil and air temperatures

• Increased relative humidity

• Reduced evaporation and soil moisture

• And changes in the distribution of snow

These effects are determined by a windbreak’s height, length, density, location and species of trees as I
said and by the number of layers. Windbreaks can reduce soil erosion by:

• Reducing the occurrence of winds that are strong enough to carry soil away

• Reducing the loss of soil moisture, which binds soil particles together and makes them less likely to be
blown by wind.

In conclusion, windbreaks are are very useful for stopping soil erosion of wind and also they are ecological,
because planting trees is good for the environment and for the soil. So as it doesn't generate an impact and
it's effective, windbreaks can be a good solution to wind erosion.

References:

 Joan Jaumà

https://milford.nserl.purdue.edu/weppdocs/overview/wndersn.html

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/environment/bmp/AF187.pdf

https://www.nvca.on.ca/Shared%20Documents/
The%20Benefits%20of%20Windbreaks%20Extension%20Notes.pdf

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/030913339101500108?journalCode=ppga