Short answers, pulled from the story.
Scientists distinguish this movement from weathering, which breaks down rocks without moving them. Erosion involves surface processes that remove soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location and transport it to another.
Rainfall creates four distinct types of soil erosion including splash erosion, sheet erosion, rill erosion, and gully erosion. Splash erosion ejects soil particles up to 15 centimetres vertically while gully erosion forms channels at least one square foot wide.
The Devil's Nest in Jalasjärvi, Finland stands as Europe's deepest ground erosion point carved by glacial processes. Glaciers erode bedrock through abrasion, plucking, and ice thrusting over approximately 100,000 years.
Human activities have increased global soil erosion rates by 10 to 40 times compared to natural conditions. At agriculture sites in the Appalachian Mountains, intensive farming practices caused erosion up to 100 times the natural rate for that region.
Water and wind erosion combined account for about 84% of the global extent of degraded land. Excessive erosion leads to desertification when nutrient-rich upper soil layers disappear from landscapes.