DELIMITAÇÃO DE UNIDADES DE PAISAGEM APLICADA A BACIAS HIDROGRÁFICAS, UTILIZANDO PARÂMETROS GEOMORFOMÉTRICOS E EDÁFICOS

Abstract

There are many methods for environmental assessment contributing to maintain ecosystem services, enabling more sustainable use of natural resources and reducing environmental problems. Landscape Unit (LU) Assessment Method stands out among different ones, which is a product of the official Environmental and Productive Zoning (ZAP, Brazilian acronym) manual from Minas Gerais State, a tool designed to develop and monitor economic, social, and environmental management plans. However, the subjectivity in delimitating these units emerges as a challenge, potentially compromising the results accuracy and the environmental analyses effectiveness. Therefore, this paper focuses on delimitating the Landscape Units by geomorphological parameters basing on terrain shape variables (horizontal and vertical curvature), slope, and edaphic characteristics to assist in soil vulnerability and suitability analyses in the VerdinhoRiver watershed. These data were analyzed and considered to generate a detailed classification of Landscape Units, enabling to identify zones with geomorphological and soil characteristics; finally allowing analyzing the units according to their uniqueness in relatively homogeneous natural aspects. The results indicate that the proposed methodology helped to reduce subjectivity in unit definition, making the process more replicable and coherent. Furthermore, the delimited units show a direct relationship with different levels of soil vulnerability and suitability, contributing to more efficient territorial planning. It is concluded that the adopted approach may support future studies, contributing to identify priority areas for conservation and sustainable use. The integration of geospatial technologies proved to be an effective tool for delimiting the Landscape Units, providing greater accuracy in environmental analysis and decision-making support.