Geoprocessing techniques applied on identification of land uses in the surroundings of the bogs of the serra do espinhaço meridional

Abstract

Peat bogs are products of slow decomposition of plants in environments saturated with water. These ecosystems accumulate large volumes of organic matter and preserve paleoclimatic records. The objective of this work was to map the chronological evolution (1964 - 2014) of the anthropic occupation in areas adjacent to the bogs of the Serra do Espinhaço Meridional to identify environmental impacts. For the study, remote sensing data, such as aerial photographs and Landsat (TM/5 and OLI/8) satellites, were analyzed using geoprocessing techniques. Data were processed in several steps (e.g. georeferencing, mosaicking, supervised classification (MaxVer) and vectorization). From the results it was possible to identify the types of land use (pasture, eucalyptus and other crops) in the vicinity of peat bogs. It was also verified that the most intense agricultural activity in the studied areas was the cultivation of eucalyptus. This crop was non-existent in 1964, and in 2014 it occupied 341.37 ha (2.07% of the total adjacent area). Other crops (corn, coffee and strawberry), which were not cultivated in this research area in 1964, began to occupy 312.46 ha (1.90%) in 2014. Pastures increased from 378.57 ha in 1964 to 522.57ha in 2014, (an advance from 2.30% to 3.17%) of the total adjacent area.