SOIL PROPERTIES, CONDITION AND SOIL LOSSES FOR SOUTH AND EAST BRAZILIAN FOREST AREAS
FIGURE 8 Map of soil loss for the studied area.
The FX soil (Figure 1), mainly that located on the western part of the
watershed, presented the most soil loss (Figure 8). In the field, we observed that
this soil occurs on slightly concave slopes, which can concentrate the runoff
flow leading to greater erosion rate. Thus, the erosion control practices should
concentrate on protecting these soils.
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TABLE 1 Classes of soil loss according to Bahadur (2009) for the studied
watershed.
Soil loss rate
t ha-1 yr-1
Area
%
Soil loss class
0.0 – 1.0 32.0 Nil to very extremely slight
1.0 – 3.0 22.9 Extremely slight
3.0 – 6.0 17.8 Very slight
6.0 – 9.0 9.7 Slight
9.0 – 12 6.1 Moderate
12 – 25 7.1 Severe
25 – 50 2.6 Moderate Severe
50 – 100 1.1 Very severe
100 – 400 0.6 Extremely severe
> 400 0.1 Very extremely severe
Comparing the soil loss estimates for different land-uses for the
watershed (Table 2) it was possible to verify that the natural system (Atlantic
Forest) had lower values of mean and median than the other uses. Additionally,
a substantial difference for soil loss was found between Atlantic Forest and
forest roads. The eucalyptus land-use showed soil loss values for mean and
median lesser than tolerable values for soil loss, in the order of 10, 13 and 11 t
ha-1 yr-1 for the PA1, FX and PA2, respectively (Martins, 2005). However, these
soil losses were greater than for the native forest. Better management practices
should be considered for the eucalyptus area in order to bring the erosion rate
much closer to the native forest to make it more sustainable.
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TABLE 2 Soil loss for different uses for the studied watershed.
Soil use Soil loss (t ha-1 yr-1)
Mean Median
Atlantic Forest 0.94 0.19
Eucalyptus 6.97 3.53
Forest roads 21.79 7.13
Most of the area in the studied watershed (86%) had soil loss rate less
than soil loss tolerance (Figure 9). However, 14% of the watershed area where
erosion was greater than soil loss tolerance needs special attention for the
implementation of soil erosion controls.
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FIGURE 9 Spatial distribution map of soil loss greater and smaller than tolerable
rate for the studied watershed.
70
6 CONCLUSIONS
Implementation of the USLE model in GIS environment was found to be
a simple and useful tool for predicting the spatial distribution of soil erosion and
identifying critical areas for the studied watershed in the Coastal Plain of
Espírito Santo state, Brazil.
The C factor values calculated were 0.297 for eucalyptus and 0.017 for
Atlantic Forest, strengthening that these are the first ones obtained directly from
field data for Brazil or even South America.
The long-term average annual soil loss for the studied watershed was 6.2
t ha-1 yr-1. About 86% of the watershed area presented soil erosion rate less than
the tolerable value, indicating generally adequate management for such areas.
In terms of soil loss classes, 55% of the area is classified as extremely
slight, with values smaller than 3 t ha-1 yr-1. However, about 12% of the
watershed area had soil erosion greater than 12 t ha-1 yr-1 (severe), where
conservation practices need to be implemented to control soil erosion.
Although the long-term average annual soil loss for eucalyptus was less
than the tolerable value, conservation practices should be employed in order to
decrease erosion rate much closer to the Atlantic Forest to reduce offsite effects
and degradation. In addition, erosion control practices should be concentrated on
the FX soils and roads.
71
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