Estimativa das taxas de perda de solo por erosão hídrica no Estado do Espírito Santo, Brasil

Abstract

Although it is a natural process, water erosion when neglected causes physical, environmental, and socioeconomic impacts. It is the main process of degradation of tropical soils. Despite the large areas destined for agricultural activities, the State of Espírito Santo still lacks studies to assess and estimate water erosion, with a view to proposing mitigating actions and sustainable planning of land use. An alternative is the modeling of water erosion, a technique that estimates and spatializes the rates of soil losses by Geographic Information Systems, identifying the distribution of the rates of losses and the areas most degraded by erosion. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation - RUSLE is one of the most widespread models in Brazil, as it has costs and applicability that when compared to other methodologies are relatively lower and less complex, providing quick results that can help in the definition of mitigation measures water erosion and enhance sustainable land use. The objective of this work was to estimate the erosive rates for water erosion in the State of Espírito Santo by RUSLE and to compare them with the limits of Tolerance of Soil Loss (TPS). The input parameters used for the modeling are based on climatic, pedological, topographic, land use and management attributes, and adoption of conservationist practices. In which 38.65% of the state's soil losses are above the limits of the TPS. The average annual loss is 33.55 Mg ha -1 year -1 . The highest erosive rates were concentrated in the areas with the highest declivity and low density of vegetation cover. RUSLE provided a diagnosis of soil losses and makes it possible to define actions that can mitigate environmental damage and promote sustainable socio-economic and environmental development in the state.