Soil erosion is a natural process that occurs when the force of wind, raindrops or running water on the soil surface exceeds the cohesive forces that bind the soil together. In general, vegetation cover protects the soil from the effects of these erosive forces. However, land management activities such as ploughing, burning and heavy grazing may disturb this protective layer, exposing the underlying soil. About 1 billion hectares of land in the world is estimated to be eroded by water. Water erosion is resulted due to dispersive and transporting power of the water, as is evident from splash erosion where first of all the soil particles are detached from the soil surface by the action of raindrop and then transported with surface runoff. There is a direct relationship between the soil loss and runoff volume. There are many climatic and biotic factors responsible for soil erosion. Many erosion process models are available and used to estimate various soil erosion parameters. Their use depends upon the data required in the model and the data available. In the present chapter, some of these models such as the Universal Soil Loss Equation, Soil Loss Equation Model for South Africa, Soil Loss Equation Model for Mediterranean Region, Modified Universal Soil Loss Equation, Morgan-Morgan-Finney Model, Quasi-Three-Dimensional Runoff Model and Limburg Soil Erosion Model (LISEM) are discussed. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018.
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