ABSTRACT
Soils undergo intensive changes in their physical, chemical, and biological properties during natural soil development and as a result of anthropogenic processes such as plowing, sealing, erosion by wind and water, amelioration, excavation, and reclamation of devastated land. In agriculture, soil compaction as well as soil erosion by wind and water are classied as the most harmful processes. Irrespective of land-use systems, soil deformation as the sum of soil compaction and shear processes leads to numerous environmental changes a¦ecting soil quality for crop production, soil biodiversity, ltering and bu¦ering functions of soils, soil-water household components, trace gas emissions, soil erosion and nutrient export, and related o¦-site e¦ects (Figure 3.1).
