Susceptibilidade potencial à erosão na bacia hidrográfica do Ribeirão da Areia – Buritizeiro, MG: uma análise geográfica com ênfase na geomorfologia

Abstract

This research draws on an integrated analysis of geomorphological, pedological and land use and cover factors to investigate the potential susceptibility to erosion of the Ribeirão da Areia watershed. Soils, as components of a system, hold a connection with the other elements in the environment, and it is not possible to evaluate their fragility to a given process in isolation. Economic exploration, in the area examined in this study, intensified in the 1970s, leading to a rapid and intense change in land use and land cover, which reflect in the removal of vast areas of cerrado soils for the implementation of silviculture and extensive livestock production. This study aims to analyze the potential susceptibility to erosion of the Ribeirão da Areia watershed from the perspective of Soil-relief relationship. The methodology consisted of bibliographic review, empirical research and basic thematic mapping for later production of the potential erosion susceptibility map of the watershed. Besides allowing the production of the potential erosion susceptibility map, the basic thematic mapping aimed to allow the integrated analysis of the physical and anthropogenic characteristics of the watershed. It also allowed to point out the conditioning factors of the erosive susceptibility in each geomorphological compartment. To identify the classes of potential susceptibility to erosion, variables such as soil, hypsometry, slope and land use and cover were examined, with weights ranging from 0 to 1 according to the impact of each factor to soil stability or protection. Results have shown that, in the Ribeirão da Areia watershed, classes of potential susceptibility to erosion that range from medium to high predominate. In the highest altimetry, correlated to the areado plateau, the topographic, pedological, land use and cover factors standed out, along with the hydrographic factors, as conditioners of the class of potential susceptibility to erosion. In lowland areas, erosive susceptibility is more influenced by the use and cover of soils and soil characteristics. Furthermore, the potential susceptibility to medium or high erosion rates does not necessarily mean the installation of the erosive process, however, it indicates a natural or induced fragility of the soils to this type of degradation. Thus, the erosion susceptibility map is an important consultation tool for decision making aimed at the exploration or preservation of soils in the Ribeirão da Areia watershed.