Geotecnologias na avaliação de perdas de solo no município de Limoeiro de Anadia, AL.

Abstract

The environmental impacts caused by erosion are quite significant for soil degradation and, consequently, loss of agricultural productivity and water storage capacity. The municipality of Limoeiro de Anadia, in Agreste Alagoano, has its economy based on agriculture and cattle raising and has already suffered from environmental impacts due to anthropization. This work seeks to map the areas susceptible to environmental degradation due to erosion. Slope maps, land use and occupation and soil types were used as input variable in the hierarchical analysis to obtain the erosivity and erodibility risk maps. The data show that, despite the anthropization that took place in the municipality, a large part of its area (94%) was considered low and erosion potential was very low. These areas have, on average, rainfall between 420mm and 560mm and are classified as flat and wavy and, for the most part, are pasture. This type of ground cover is considered to have a medium degree of soil protection, while agricultural areas have a low degree of protection. It is concluded that the municipality of Limoeiro de Anadia has a low propensity to impacts by erosion, however, the expansion of unplanned pasture and agricultural areas can become potential factors to trigger erosion propensity, thus reducing fertility and capacity of soil water storage with negative effects on agricultural production. Although the study has important conclusions about soil loss and its intervening factors, it is important to highlight that for greater data consistency, it is recommended that a study of temporal variability of land use and occupation be carried out to identify the real loss of vegetation. It is also recommended to analyze an updated rainfall series, as well as obtain more details of the soil loss rate to better understand the fragility classes. Keywords: Geoprocessing. Soil conservation. Erosion. Degradation.