Accelerated soil erosion is a serious global problem that degrades agriculture lands. Since erosion research is normally expensive and time-consuming, the use of models allows to estimate soil losses at locations and under conditions not represented directly in the research. The objective of this study was to estimate the soil erosion in an area intensively cultivated with sugarcane near the city of Piracicaba, São Paulo, contributing to diagnose the current land uses aimed at controlling erosion. The study was carried out based on a geographic information system using the universal soil loss equation (USLE) to estimate erosion. A specific objective of the study was to analyze the influence of K (soil erodibility), LS (topography), C (crop use and management) and P (erosion control practices) factors in soil loss estimates. The results show an intense soil degradation process by accelerated erosion in nearly two-thirds of the studied area, mainly occupied by sugarcane. In these areas, the average estimated soil loss rate of 58 Mg ha-1 year-1 is equivalent to nearly four times the indicated average upper tolerance limit. In the remaining areas occupied by forest, riparian vegetation, afforestation and pasture, the estimated soil loss rates are low, around 2 Mg ha-1 year-1 , below the tolerance values. The model factor sensitivity analysis revealed that under the same weather condition (constant R factor), factors C and P (crop management and coverage and erosion control practices) defined the magnitude of the soil losses, whether in units, tens or hundreds of Mg ha-1 year-1. For a same category of land use (factors C and P constant), the LS factor (topographic) explained most of the observed variation. The results obtained from a simulation showed that the estimates were much less influenced by the K (soil erodibility) than by the topographic factor. The application of USLE permitted an estimation of expected soil erosion in the study area. The use of geotechnological and geostatistical analysis methods seems to be a promising approach in erosion studies.
Ceveiro stream; geographic information system; IDRISI software; sugarcane; Universal Soil Loss Equation
