EFFECTS OF CHANGES IN SOIL USE AND OCCUPATION ON SOIL LOSSES IN THE RIO DE JANEIRO BASIN, WEST OF BAHIA

Abstract

The use and occupation of the soil is a preponderant factor for the attenuation or intensification of erosive processes, since areas that have an adequate soil cover present less potential to produce sediments. Thus, the present work aims to carry out an analysis of soil losses in the Rio de Janeiro Basin (Western Bahia Region) for different conditions of land use and occupation, using USLE in a GIS environment. In which it was found that the Rio de Janeiro Basin has undergone an intense change in its use and land occupation in the last 40 years, with suppression of about 54% of the area of native vegetation, which significantly influenced the increase soil losses in the basin. The western portion of the basin was more susceptible to soil losses due to the higher concentration of the dryland farming class. In contrast, the eastern region of the basin showed the lowest values of soil losses due to the predominance of native vegetation, thus showing its effectiveness in mitigating erosion processes.