Spatial Variability Losses of Soil Watershed Basis for Water Catchment of the Goias State

Abstract

The changes in land use in Goiás state due to the advancement of agriculture and livestock have caused a major influence on soil losses. This study identified the potential soil loss in the state and alone in 183 watershed basins for water catchment in the state of Goias using the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), and their R, K, LS, and CP factors were obtained by Geoprocessing tool. The results generated a scenario where most of the area of the state, 77.6%, shows weak erosive sensitivity, 8.5% moderate, and 6.9% erosive susceptibility with high erosive susceptibility. Concerning soil loss of funding basins it was found that twelve basins showed very high class and two in severe erosive susceptibility, 64% of the basins were framed with low and moderate erosive susceptibility. Thus, the use of USLE in conjunction with the Geoprocessing tool was effective in the spatial representation of soil loss, identifying areas most vulnerable to the erosion process, and assisting in proposing priority measures for soil conservation.

Keywords

• soil loss
• usle
• sources of funding
• geoprocessing