Erosion

Have you ever wondered how a tiny pebble in a river gets so round and smooth. Or how a giant canyon, deep enough to hide a mountain, gets carved into the ground. Maybe you’ve seen sand dunes at the beach that seem to dance and change shape every day. That’s me at work. I am a secret artist, and the whole world is my masterpiece. I work very, very slowly, so you might not even notice me. I take a tiny grain of sand from a rock here, a little speck of dirt from a field there. Over thousands and millions of years, my small changes add up to create amazing sights. I am a patient and powerful force that is always changing the world. I am Erosion.

I don’t do all this work by myself, of course. I have three very powerful helpers who are always by my side. My first helper is Water. Water loves to splash and flow, and as it runs in rivers or crashes as waves, it carries little bits of rock and soil away with it. My second helper is Wind. Wind whistles and blows, picking up dust and sand and carrying it to new places, sometimes polishing rocks into strange shapes along the way. My third helper is Ice. Giant frozen rivers, called glaciers, move slower than a snail, but they are strong enough to push and scrape the land, carving out huge valleys. People first started to understand me a long time ago. Farmers noticed that the rich soil they needed for their crops was slowly vanishing from their fields. Explorers saw my incredible canyons and wondered what could possibly be strong enough to create them. Then, during the 1930s, people learned a very important lesson about me during a time called the Dust Bowl. My helper, Wind, blew away so much dry soil from the farms that it created huge, dark clouds of dust in the sky.

It might sound like I can be a bit of a troublemaker, but I also help make our planet beautiful. I carve amazing stone arches that look like bridges to nowhere and shape beautiful valleys where animals can live and rivers can flow. I am just a part of nature, always busy shaping and changing things. The good news is that people have learned how to work with me. Instead of letting me wash away all the soil, they have learned to become my partners. They plant trees with deep, strong roots that hold the soil in place like a cozy blanket. On steep hills, they build little steps called terraces, which help my friend Water slow down and soak into the ground instead of rushing away. By understanding me, people can help protect our planet. We can work together to keep the Earth healthy and enjoy all the wonderful shapes and places I am always creating for you to explore.