what are the beneficial effects of soil erosion?

Question

what are the beneficial effects of soil erosion?

Answer 1

Those who benefit from this process are those who live where it is deposited (unless you have built an house on a floodplain, then it's just a pain in the butt.) Rivers Carry sediments downstream making river deltas very fertile land. Aeolian (wind processes) transfer of sediment creates loess plateaus which can also be very fertile..found in China.

We think of it as a bad thing, because usually we are looking at an agricultural field, perhaps that has been tilled and has nothing to protect it from wind and water erosion. It is the farmers livelihood that will be lost if the soil is eroded so he strives to prevent it as much as possible.

Do not confuse erosion (which always implies transport of some type) with weathering...the breakdown of parent rock material.

Answer 2

Sediment can provide farmers with a source of fertile nutrient-rich soil, for example on bunded paddy land. Traps may even be constructed by farmers to create new fields through the accumulation of sediment, such as the rock check dams constructed by farmers in India. Also the sand content of eroded sediment may also be deposited in rivers, from which it can be removed for use in the building trade, such as in Sri Lanka.