Abstract <p>All factors of soil formation can be divided into random ones, which the researcher cannot control when studying soils and ground cover, and non-random ones, which can be studied in detail assessing their contribution to the formation of soil of a particular taxonomic rank. The random soil-forming factors include cryogenic, fluvial, anthropogenic, migratory, denudation, erosion, and solifluction, while the non-random factors comprise climatogenic, biogenic (mainly phytogenic), lithogenic, and chronogenic ones. It is shown that an essential element of randomness is found in the course of erosion processes. However, the established significant methodology for predicting the magnitude of soil erosion and assessing the likelihood of expected damage from soil erosion makes it possible to minimize this random factor.</p>