Surface runoff
Surface runoff can cause erosion of the Earth's surface; eroded material may be deposited a considerable distance away. There are four main types of soil erosion by water: splash erosion, sheet erosion, rill erosion and gully erosion. Splash erosion is the result of mechanical collision of raindrops with the soil surface: soil particles which are dislodged by the impact then move with the surface runoff. Sheet erosion is the overland transport of sediment by runoff without a well defined channel. Soil surface roughness causes may cause runoff to become concentrated into narrower flow paths: as these incise, the small but well-defined channels which are formed are known as rills. These channels can be as small as one centimeter wide or as large as several meters. If runoff continue to incise and enlarge rills, they may eventually grow to become gullies. Gully erosion can transport large amounts of eroded material in a small time period.