Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LXII, Issue 1
Written by Simona-Gabriela CIOCAN, Simina-Mirela RĂILEANU, Daniel BUCUR
The paper aims to bring in the foreground the long-term negative effects of soil erosion on the slope agricultural land in Suceava County. Located in the northeastern part of Romania, Suceava County occupies an area of 8553.5 km2 (about 3.6% of the country's surface), being the second largest county in the country, after Timis County. Related to the country's largest geographical units, the territory of the county overlaps partially with the Eastern Carpathians and the Suceava Plateau. The relief characterized by a wide variety of forms (mountains, intramontane depressions, hills, plateaus, terraced valleys and river meadows) and the characteristics of the climatic, hydrographic, geological and pedological elements, correlated with the inappropriate exploitation of the land slopes, have determined over time the emergence of the erosion process on agricultural land. In 1990, Suceava County had an agricultural area of 349,502 ha, out of which 182,486 ha of arable land, 91,465 ha of pastureland, 69,960 ha of meadows and 5,491 ha of orchards. Compared to 1990, the total agricultural area increased to 354,820 ha, where 180,451 ha represent arable land, 2,913 ha orchards, 93,052 ha pastures and 78,404 ha of meadows. Between 1990 and 2017, the total agricultural area has increased by 5,318 ha, but the arable land and orchards were reduced by approximately 2,500 ha each, pastures and meadows increased by about 1,500 and, respectively 8,000 ha. More than half of the agricultural area is located on land with a slope of more than 5%. The lack of measures to prevent and combat erosion has led to a decrease in soil fertility, and in some cases to irreversible removing of the large area of land from the agricultural circuit.
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