Compartimentos do relevo na Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Catu (RN): uma abordagem cartográfica por meio de geotecnologias

Abstract

Brazilian lands underwent many changes due to the accelerated process of urbanization from the 50s and the advance of the agricultural frontier from the 1970s. Services, and real estate speculation, which has dynamized the urban centers of cities. Effects of this process have generated greater use of natural resources, which has configured a worrying scenario regarding the maintenance of these resources. Based on these assumptions, within the scope of the Federal Constitution of 1988, it provides for a series of measures to protect the environment, such as the Master Plans, Municipal Plans, Agenda 21, the Hydrographic Basin Plan, among others. And, starting with the Hydrographic Basin Plan, one of its effects is to protect the areas that are part of the basin, especially the water resources of these places. In this context, this research aims to analyze the geomorphological compartmentation of the Catu River basin (BHRC), through the use of geotechnologies. BHRC is located in the southern microregion of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, and in which it has a dimension of 211.12 km2. The basin occupies part of the municipalities of Canguaretama, Goianinha, Tibau do Sul and Vila Flor, and its main economic activities are agriculture and livestock, in particular the production of sugarcane and shrimp farming, and activities aimed at tourism and trade. The methodology of the work included the theoretical foundation, which brings the fundamentals and concepts of river basins worked by some authors, as well as geotechnologies and their use in environmental sciences, relief compartmentation, theories and techniques, and environmental impacts in watershed areas. Methodological procedures, through the acquisition of primary and secondary data that were collected to spatialize the information about the BHRC. Thus, as the data processing in a GIS environment, through ArcGis 10.5, and the choice criteria for each parameter brought into the work and the description of the procedures performed. The results obtained on the relief compartments in the BHRC, bringing the natural units in the basin, some socioeconomic aspects, and an analysis of land use and land cover. And some environmental planning strategies for maintaining the natural resources of this basin.