The strong winds that accompanied the drought of the 1930s blew away 480 tons of topsoil per acre, removing an average of five inches of topsoil from more than 10 million acres. The dust and sand storms degraded soil productivity,
harmed human health, and damaged air quality
.
What did the Dust Bowl do to the land?
Crops began to fail with the onset of drought in 1931, exposing the bare, over-plowed farmland. Without deep-rooted prairie grasses to hold the soil in place, it began to blow away. Eroding soil led
to massive dust storms and economic devastation
—especially in the Southern Plains.
How did the Dust Bowl affect land and animals?
The 1930s Dust Bowl is one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in America’s history. For over ten years,
severe drought and severs wind erosion haunted the Great Plains
, creating horrible dust storms that killed people, animals and plants, while destroying the air quality of the nation.
How did the Dust Bowl affect farming?
And how did the Dust Bowl affect farmers?
Crops withered and died
. Farmers who had plowed under the native prairie grass that held soil in place saw tons of topsoil—which had taken thousands of years to accumulate—rise into the air and blow away in minutes. On the Southern Plains, the sky turned lethal.
Who did the Dust Bowl affect the most?
The agricultural devastation helped to lengthen the Great Depression, whose effects were felt worldwide. One hundred million acres of the Southern Plains were turning into a wasteland of the Dust Bowl. Large sections of five states were affected —
Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico
.
What stopped the Dust Bowl?
While the dust was greatly reduced thanks to ramped up conservation efforts and sustainable farming practices, the drought was still in full effect in April of 1939. … In the fall of 1939,
rain finally returned in significant amounts
to many areas of the Great Plains, signaling the end of the Dust Bowl.
What animals were affected by the Dust Bowl?
The four main animals that lived on the Dust Bowl were the
cattle, horses, chickens, and jackrabbits
. The cattle were mostly used for food or field work. The horses were also commonly used for field work.
How many people died in the Dust Bowl?
In total, the Dust Bowl killed
around 7,000 people
and left 2 million homeless. The heat, drought and dust storms also had a cascade effect on U.S. agriculture. Wheat production fell by 36% and maize production plummeted by 48% during the 1930s.
Why did farmers leave during the Dust Bowl?
The one-two punch of
economic depression and bad weather
put many farmers out of business. In the early 1930s, thousands of Dust Bowl refugees — mainly from Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico — packed up their families and migrated west, hoping to find work.
Where did the farmers go during the Dust Bowl?
The one-two punch of economic depression and bad weather put many farmers out of business. In the early 1930s, thousands of Dust Bowl refugees — mainly from
Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico
— packed up their families and migrated west, hoping to find work.
What did they eat during the Dust Bowl?
Dust Bowl meals focused on nutrition over taste. They often included
milk, potatoes, and canned goods
. Some families resorted to eating dandelions or even tumbleweeds.
What states were most affected by the Dust Bowl?
As a result, dust storms raged nearly everywhere, but the most severely affected areas were in the
Oklahoma
(Cimarron, Texas, and Beaver counties) and Texas panhandles, western Kansas, and eastern Colorado and northeastern New Mexico.
What caused the Dirty Thirties?
The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s;
severe drought
and a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent the aeolian processes (wind erosion) caused the phenomenon.
Did the Dust Bowl ever recover?
While
some of the Dust Bowl land never recovered
, the settled communities becoming ghost towns, many of the once-affected areas have become major food producers.
What year did the Dust Bowl end?
In the fall of 1939, after nearly a decade of dirt and dust, the drought
ended when regular rainfall finally returned to the region
. The government still encouraged continuing the use of conservation methods to protect the soil and ecology of the Plains.
Could the Dust Bowl be prevented?
The Dust Bowl is a distant memory, but the odds of such a drought happening again are increasing. … Other helpful techniques include planting more drought-resistant strains of corn and wheat; leaving crop residue on the fields to cover the soil; and
planting trees to break the wind
.
