ABSTRACT
The characterization of sediment input in watersheds is an important tool for projects that support soil conservation and watershed management. A spatial and temporal analysis of the sediment input in an agricultural watershed tributary of Santa Rita River was performed by means of a geoprocessing simulation in the municipality of Fernandópolis, São Paulo, Brazil. In order to accomplish this, there was a simulation of sediment delivery using the Modified Universal Soil Loss Equation (MUSLE) method for basins, from October 2012 to September 2013. There was a total of 433.87 t of sediments contributed in the period evaluated, resulting in an average soil loss of 3,635 t.ha-1.yr-1. The period with the greatest amount of sediment input was from December 2012 to March 2013. 65.1% of all the sediments were produced at that time. In the most critical month of sediment input, February 2013, about 15% of the total basin area showed sediment contributions ranging from 2 to 15 t.ha-1.yr-1. Sugarcane contributed the most sediment, accounting for 92% of the total, and an average of 6,343 t.ha-1.yr-1.
Keywords:
slope; diffuse pollution; water resources; land use and occupation