Visitors are asked to stay on the trails and off bare rock and hardpan to avoid damage to fossils and fragile soils.

This exposed and degraded the fragile soils that underlie the site, creating the conditions favoured by heathland.

Its fragile soils had been lost into the oceans and could not be recovered.

Inevitably, this takes a toll of the environment, stripping woods, eroding fragile soil, exhausting water supplies.

"Debts that they cannot pay," the study continues, "force African nations relying on commodity sales to overuse their fragile soils, thus turning good land to desert."

The country has a high population density, few natural resources, and a fragile soil.

However, these methods may damage a fragile soil by restructuring it, hence are not always used.

"It is the best alternative for the fragile soil in the Amazon," said Raphael Negrete, a bank official.

There was strong opposition to the funicular from environmental groups, who were concerned about damage to the mountain and its fragile soils and plants.

What is it that makes Iceland's soils so fragile and slow to form?