It is well-known that soil is subject to many natural and human-induced threats, which contribute to its degradation and loss. In addition, sampling for scientific studies and professional activities increases soil loss, because the samples—often in excessive amount—are never restored to the original place. Here, we propose to call “hidden erosion” this unwelcome form of erosion. A rough estimation of the “hidden erosion” has not been carried out before. In this paper, the amounts of soil sampled from its original site and transferred to the laboratory is estimated using data of selected literature studies; the equivalent soil thickness reduction is calculated. From these estimates, we demonstrate that in most cases, the amounts of soil sampled exceed the tolerable loss. This erosion form cannot usually heavily impact the environment, because of its limited spatial and temporal extent. However, when the soil is removed repeatedly on a large spatial scale, sampling may increase the erosion rates of the natural and other human-induced processes at the global scale. Finally, since sampling cannot usually be avoided in soil studies, a decalogue with some careful measures to minimize the soil loss during sampling is proposed, in order to limit the “hidden erosion.”

众所周知，土壤会遭受许多自然和人为的威胁，这导致土壤的退化和丧失。此外，用于科学研究和专业活动的采样会增加土壤流失，因为采样（通常数量过多）从未恢复到原始位置。在这里，我们建议将“隐藏腐蚀”称为这种不受欢迎的腐蚀形式。之前尚未对“隐藏侵蚀”进行粗略估计。在本文中，使用选定的文献研究数据估算了从其原始地点采样并转移到实验室的土壤数量；计算出等效的土壤厚度减少量。从这些估计中，我们证明在大多数情况下，采样土壤的数量超过了可承受的损失。这种侵蚀形式通常不会严重影响环境，由于其时空范围有限。但是，当在较大的空间尺度上反复清除土壤时，采样可能会增加全球范围内自然过程和其他人为过程的侵蚀率。最后，由于在土壤研究中通常无法避免采样，因此建议采用十诫，并采取一些谨慎的措施以最大程度地减少采样期间的土壤流失，以限制“隐性侵蚀”。