O SISTEMA DE CAPACIDADE DE USO DA TERRA COMO INSTRUMENTO PARA ANÁLISE DE AREA RURAL DEGRADADA

Abstract

This paper evaluates the land use capacity system as an instrument for the analysis of degraded rural areas in the west of São Paulo state. We selected a set of sub-basins of the AreiaDourada stream, located in MarabáPaulista city (SP), which are totally anthropized for agricultural use, remaining from the original native forest less than 1% of whole area. In these sub-basins, following the procedures presented by Lepsch et al. (1983), we mapped the slopes, the pedological characteristics (depth, texture and permeability), the linear erosive forms (rill, ravine and gully), and from these mappings the land use capacity map was elaborated. This zoning of the capacity of use was evaluated from the erosive dynamics and the use and superficial surface cover of the land, in order to identify its limitations and potentialities. As a result, we verified that, in the limits of private property, the systemic understanding of the erosive problem is not possible, limiting the zoning to the location of the forms, when it is necessary to consider the connectivity between the processes in the different topographic levels, as well as the necessity to evaluate other elements, such as geology and relief forms, to better adapt the zoning.