TOPOMORPHOLOGICAL COMPARTMENTS AND MORPHODYNAMICS OF AN URBAN STREAM WATERSHED, UBERABA, BRAZIL

Resumo

The urban expansion experienced by Uberaba County (MG) from the 1970s on has changed not only the life of the local population, but also the physiography of the urban area due to channeling of major streams. Changes in surface runoff have been causing several inconveniences to the population due to flooding events resulting from heavy rainfall periods. Recent studies have reported association between the increased frequency and intensity of such events after waterproofing key areas to avoid surface water infiltration. Lages stream is located downtown Uberaba, which is a place of economic and social interest that is highly vulnerable to floods. Thus, it is necessary investigating its watershed to help better understanding its topomorphological compartments and morphodynamics, as well as to analyze the influence occupation and anthropization processes on its natural dynamics. Maps depicting waterproofed areas, watershed boundaries, digital elevation model and transects were generated in QGIS 2.18, whereas physiographic features were calculated based on the main methods available in the literature. The aforementioned aspects have indicated that the watershed has natural susceptibility to flooding events. Three topomorphological compartments were identified, namely: valley bottom, mid-slopes and smoothly waved tops. The large number of waterproofed regions within the watershed.