Vulnerabilidade dos solos à erosão hídrica na sub-bacia do Ribeirão do Cipó - Poços de Caldas / MG

Abstract

Water erosion is the most significant form of erosion, caused by rainfall and its respective surface runoff. This paper aims to estimate the spatial distribution of the average annual soil loss potential in the Ribeirão do Cipó Hidrographic Basin (SBRC), with the identification of areas with the highest susceptibility to water erosion. The RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation - Renard et al., 1997) model implemented in GIS was applied through the elaboration of the equation factors for later map algebra. It was found that 53% of the SBRC area is in the class of moderate vulnerability, being also, 18% in the very high vulnerability class, classification Beskow et al. (2009). Land use with native forest and reforestation contributed positively to reducing vulnerability to water erosion, and, on the other hand, annual crops and areas of uncovered and mined soil, without conservation practices, significantly increased the vulnerability and consequently the loss of the estimated average soil of 45.14 (t. ha-1 year-1 ) for the SBRC, placing in the Very High Vulnerability to rainfall erosivity class.