LANDSCAPE UNITS IN THE PACUÍ RIVER BASININ THE NORTH OF MINAS GERAIS

Abstract

This research aimed to characterize the natural landscapes of the Pacuí River Basin and to understand its influence on the types of land use and the impacts of anthropic action. The theoretical foundations of this research were to the great matrices: the systems and the landscapes. It counted also with the review of other theoretical perspectives such as: geosystems, watersheds, landscape compartments, geoecology and landscape units. The applied methodology for the representation of the landscape of the Pacuí was the cartography of landscapes, with the aid of Geoprocessing. In this sense, the following observation methods and techniques were used: transects, geoecological profiles, thematic maps and synthesis map.  These surfaces were defined, taking into consideration, the topographic level, and the interaction of the followed factors: different lithological types; climatic alternation, with dry and humid seasons which resulted in flattening and dissection events that caused the opening of São Francisco Depression, due to the structural control of river and the drainage network carving, through the fitting of its tributaries in the post-Cretaceous period. The result of all analysis of the landscape had as final product the map of landscape unities. For that, the Pacuí Basin was divided into five compartments or surfaces. Summit Flat Surface: Ripple Surface 1, Flattened Surface in Ramp surface, Ripple Surface 2 and Fluvio-Lacustre Surface. The current situation of the basin is not the best. The bad use of its natural resources, including in this case the waters ones, have contributed to speed up the environmental degradation. The compartmentalization in unities proposed in this study allowed to identify the main environmental impacts in each unit, being possible to establish areas with priorities for intervention, as Top of Chapadas, hillside and ridges areas. It became possible also, inside each unit, to point out areas with high level of anthropization.