Multiscale landscape compartmentation of the Uberabinha river basin (Minas Gerais, Brazil) through the geosystemic perspective

Abstract

The inappropriate use of natural resources in spatially differentiated contexts under various aspects in watersheds leads to environmental degradation and social problems. In this sense, management actions are fundamental and should start from the principle that hydrographic units are internally heterogeneous, complex and multifaceted, configuring themselves as a set of varied situations. This article reports the results of research dedicated to the application of a methodological procedure to multiscale landscape compartmentalization based on the adaptation of the contributions of two classic authors: Georges Bertrand and Jean Tricart. The Uberabinha river basin, located in the state of Minas Gerais (Brazil), adopted as the study area, was characterized from a physiographic point of view and neatly subdivided into two geosystems, four geocomplexes and eight geofacies. Smaller units, called geotopes, were also identified as examples. From the maps of physiographic components and land cover and use distributed in time intervals between 1985 and 2020, it was possible to categorize the vulnerability of the land to soil loss. Finally, geoecological profiles were elaborated to organize a synthesis of the terrestrial reality of the basin in a vertical perspective (geohorizons). Given the above, the work contributed as an analysis of the Uberabinha river basin based on a geosystemic perspective, since its exploitation has shown to be ecologically predatory, as well as in most Brazilian hydrographic basins.