Morphometrical analysis of mimoso river watershed, Mato Grosso do Sul/Brazil

The present research has the main objective of describe the morphometrical aspects of the Mimoso River Watershed, city of Bonito/Mato Grosso do Sul State. The methodological way of this research is based on mapping the slopes intensity, the horizontal dissection and the vertical dissection. The interpolation of these morphometric components quantifies the erosive potential energy of the relief, based on the methodological scope of Spiridonov (1981) and Mendes (1993) studies. Seeking for the creation of these maps, we have used the Digital Terrain Model - DTM/SRTM, which is available by the Geological Survey of the United States. Moreover, we have used the software ArcGis 10 (R) along this technical proceeding. Also, field trips were done to check the information obtained at the maps created from the slopes data, as well as the length and altitude of the terrain aclives. Seeing the diversity of slope classes, created by horizontal and vertical dissections, we can quantify and observe the potential erosive energy that runs from the very weak to moderately average classes in the upper and lower reaches of the Mimoso River Watershed due to its soft slopes and low local altimetry. However, in the middle sector of this watershed, intermediate and mid-strong classes have been found due to the sharp slopes of the mountainous relief existing in that watershed sector, which elevates the erosive potential of the basin when it is added to the narrow ramps of this area. In conclusion, this analysis is important for other future researches in this area, since it translates some of the main characteristics of the basin, basin which we should taking into account not only the importance of the tourism activity, but the environmental activity too.