Avaliação da conectividade hidráulica entre os aquíferos cársticos na região APA Carste de Lagoa Santa e suas imediações, MG

Abstract

The Carste de Lagoa Santa Environmental Protection Area is located north of Belo Horizonte -MG and is one of the main research areas related to archeology, paleontology, speleology and hydrogeology in the Brazilian territory. Little is known about the connection of this region with its surroundings, which is one of the motivations of this study, as well as the risks that the areas around a connected karst system can cause to an environmental protection area. The hydrogeological character of the research included the elaboration of a flow model, with the description of four hydrogeological units, highlighting the Karstic-fissural aquifer of the Sete Lagoas Formation as the most relevant unit in the area. The results suggest that this unit connects the study area and the environmental protection area. The hydrogeological connectivity between the regions was confirmed with the existence of two hydrogeological compartments with different levels of karstification: Bom Jardim Compartment and Jequitibá Compartment. The Bom Jardim compartment represents a more karstified region of the karst-fissural aquifer, which extends beyond the domain of the Lagoa Santa Karst APA, advancing to the area characterized by this study, and is limited bythe contact zone between the crystalline basement and the limestones of the Sete Lagoas Formation. This condition makes the study area a place of recharge of the karst-fissural aquifer that acts on the hydrogeological dynamics existing in the Environmental Protection Area.