Susceptibilidade à erosão no Rio Gualaxo do Norte –MG

Abstract

In 2015 the Fundão tailings dam, belonging to SamarcoS/A, collapsed in Mariana (MG), causing the greatest socio-environmental disaster involving mining in Brazil. The Gualaxo do Norte river drainage basin has as a tributary the Santarém creek where the break occurred. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was used with the variables chosen were: Pedological Coverage, Litology, Declivity and Ground Usage and Coverage. The results indicate that the "Strong" and "Very Strong" classes for susceptibility to erosion appear mainly in the drainage channels. The reject formed a new superficial layer of particulate material thin and structureless. Thus, the water turbidity scenarios are aggravated by the presence of the tailings in the drainage channels andby the transport of the material deposited in the adjacent areas to the valley bottoms, causing a strong impact on the channel morphology and the aquatic biota.