Information Systems store detailed information on land resources, so that these can be accessed, combined, and analyzed for several purposes from different points of view. In Brazil, the information produced in soil surveys has not been efficiently made available, due to the great volume, complexity, and little standardization. Thus, with the objective of enabling the storage, manipulation, and disposal of information on Brazilian soils, the SigSolos System was developed. SigSolos was structured to allow the storage of information originated from […]

The objectives of this study were to use kriging indicators to generate a representation of soil properties expressed by numeric attributes, to assess the uncertainty in estimates, and to model the uncertainty propagation generated by the fuzzy procedures of map algebra. The studied attributes were exchangeable potassium (K) and aluminum (Al) contents, sum of bases (SB), cationic exchange capacity (CEC), base saturation (V), and total sand content (TST), extracted from 222 pedologic profiles and 219 extra samples, located in Santa […]

The objectives of this work were to generate a representation of soil properties expressed by categorical attributes by kriging indicator; to assess the uncertainty in estimates, and to model the uncertainty propagation of map algebra by means of boolean procedures. The studied attributes were potassium (K) and aluminum (Al) exchangeable contents, sum of bases (SB), cationic exchange capacity (CEC), base saturation (V), texture (Tx) and relief classes (RC), effective soil depth, internal drainage, and stoniness and/or rockiness, extracted from 222 […]

The model SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) was used to simulate alternative scenarios of land use in Ribeirão dos Marins watershed, in Piracicaba, State of São Paulo, Brazil, for the biennial period 1999/2000. Two scenarios were simulated. The first one (scenario 1) was based on the current land use except for the introduction of a continuous riparian buffer of 30 m along the drainage network and of 50 m around the springs, in accordance to Brazil’s environmental legislation. In […]

The SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) model was applied to simulate the sediment yield in the watershed Ribeirão dos Marins, in Piracicaba, Brazil, for the biennial period of 1999/2000. The application of this model requires georeferenced input data, provided by an interface between the model and a Geographic Information System (GIS). The watershed was divided into sub-basins, and parameters were separately determined for each area. The simulated sediment yields were compared to the observed data of a gauge station […]

The objective of this work was to propose a methodology for land evaluation based on planting information, soil data extracted from a soil survey in a scale 1:50,000, and estimate of climatic risk, using a geographic information system (GIS). The reference area was the Jardim watershed, in the Federal District (Brazil). A water balance model was used to simulate the climatic risk for the corn crop (Zea mays L.), at nine different planting dates. Quantitative values for corn productivity parameters […]

The GIS-IDRISI was used to check land use adequacy from 1997 to 1998, in the initial part of the Rio Pardo basin, in Botucatu/Pardinho (SP), to obtain a suitable land use planning of the area. The classes and subclasses of land capability were determined according to the Land Capability Classification System. The lands of the studied area were classified as: class VIe, lands with erosion susceptibility (90.49%); class Va, flat lands, with no erosion risk, but limited by excess of […]

The high risk of agricultural activities demands the adoption of risk-assessment methods based on the integration of climatic and pedologic parameters, thus allowing the establishment of state policies concerning crop insurance. Based on the Brazilian Land Evaluation System, a methodology was drawn to elaborate a pedoclimatic zoning of the lands in the State of Goiás and Federal District for the planting of rainfed rice (Oriza sativa L.) (110 days-cycle). Fertility deficiency was assessed in relation to the sum of bases, […]

A cartographic simulation in a Geographical Information System (GIS) was used to evaluate the environmental impacts of different forest management strategies on a watershed scale. The project was conducted in a small (2 km2) watershed located at northern coast of the State of Espírito Santo, Brazil, which is inserted in an area of eucalypt-clone plantation comprised by the agro-industrial complex Aracruz Celulose S.A. Potential impacts were assessed by applying the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) in a GIS, where different […]