Environmental fragility and land use of the Pindaíba Creek Hydrographic Basin, Uberlândia, MG, Brazil

Abstract

This paper presents an environmental analysis of the fragility of Pindaíba Creek Hydrographic Basin using the analysis of natural and anthropic components interactions in the study area. The main objective of this research was to identify and map the environmental fragility of this basin. The specific objectives consisted in the physical characterization of land use and land cover. To accomplish this research, several field campaigns were conducted throughout the basin. The cartographic base was compiled using the Taboca and Pau Furado charts at 1:25.000 scale that were digitized using the software Cartalinx. The thematic maps of geology, geomorphology, and land use were compiled using the software Arcview 3.2. The fragility map was also derived based on the software Arcview 3.2 using the tool Geoprocessing Wizard. The methodology developed by Ross (1990, 1994) was used for the evaluation of the landscape fragility. This methodology attributes values to environment variables according to their potentialities. Results allowed the identification of major natural and anthropic actions in the study area represented in a map of fragility potential. These results indicate that land use has to be changed in order to adjust to the landscape morphology, considering not only natural resources, but also the needs of the people who live in the study area.