Which outcome resulted most directly from intensive maize farming on hillsides in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica?

💡 Explanation

When intensive maize farming was practiced on steep hillsides, deforestation occurred, eliminating root systems that prevent erosion because intensive land cleared destabilized the top soil. Therefore, increased soil erosion and sedimentation occurred, rather than phosphorus depletion, prairie expansion, or increased biodiversity, which require different agricultural systems and climate condition.

• Which principle allows corrective lens grinding, pioneered by Ibn al-Haytham, to focus light rays,?
• Which mechanism caused image distortion in early designs of Alhazen's camera obscura used for astronomical observations?
• Which risk increased when ancient Mesopotamian irrigation canals breached a levee due to seasonal flooding?
• Which structural vulnerability existed when Roman fortifications relied primarily on limestone-based mortar exposed to high temperatures?
• Which capability did al-Khwarizmi's development of algebra provide in surveying during the Abbasid Caliphate?
• Which consequence resulted from intensive maize cultivation during the Mayan Classic Period collapse?