Explanation: particle with sharp ends would have the slowest rate of deposition.

Bierman explained that there are two primary types of human activities that are responsible for increased soil erosion rates in the southeastern United States: “the removal of the trees and thus their root systems which stabilize the soil on slopes and the advent of tillage agriculture which loosens the soil and makes …

Deposition occurs when the agents (wind or water) of erosion lay down sediment. Deposition changes the shape of the land. Water’s movements (both on land and underground) cause weathering and erosion, which change the land’s surface features and create underground formations.

Liquid water is the major agent of erosion on Earth. Rain, rivers, floods, lakes, and the ocean carry away bits of soil and sand and slowly wash away the sediment. Rainfall produces four types of soil erosion: splash erosion, sheet erosion, rill erosion, and gully erosion.

In a stream, the most easily eroded particles are small sand grains between 0.2 mm and 0.5 mm. Anything smaller or larger requires a higher water velocity to be eroded and entrained in the flow.

So what determines how much material a stream can erode? A stream’s gradient, discharge, and load are three main factors that control what sediment a stream can carry. Gradient is the measure of the change in elevation over a certain distance. You can think of gradient as the steepness of a slope.

In the lower reaches of a stream, where the discharge is greater, since friction is less the stream need not be so steep to transport the load. If it were steeper than needed to transport the sediments erosion would result. But this would decrease the gradient leading to a decrease in erosion.

Water quality will be affected by changes in flow regime. Lower minimum flows imply less volume for dilution and hence higher concentrations downstream of point discharges. Enhanced growth of algal blooms in rivers, lakes and reservoirs could affect DO (dissolved oxygen) levels and water supply.