Gullied and ravinous land
Also called: Ravines · Topic: Geographical Issues: Pollution, Urban Waste, Slums and Land Degradation · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 9 "Geographical Perspective on Selected Issues and Problems"
Meaning
Gullied and ravinous land is land cut up by running water into deep, narrow channels. Small channels are called gullies, and large, deep ones are called ravines. Rainwater washes away loose soil again and again, until the land becomes a maze of steep cuts that is hard to farm or cross. NRSC (National Remote Sensing Centre) maps it from satellite images and groups it with wastelands caused mainly by natural agents.
Example
The Chambal valley, across Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, has the best-known ravines in India. The Yamuna and Mahi valleys also have large ravine lands.
Don't confuse with
- Man-made wastelands: land damaged mainly by human action, such as mining or degraded shifting cultivation. Ravines are classed as natural-agent wasteland.
Related concepts
- Land degradation
- Wasteland
- Man-made wastelands
- Wastelands Atlas of India
- Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India
- Land Degradation Neutrality
- Bonn Challenge