Impacts of land use changes on potential runoff of chuviscar-sacramento basin (chihuahua mexico). modelization with the curve number method

This paper identifies changes in land uses and land covers during the 2000-2017 period and its impacts on potential runoff of the Chuviscar-Sacramento basin (Chihuahua Mexico). Land use maps were generated for each year by spectral classification of remote sensing images and runoff was modeled using the Curve Number method considering rainfall events of 62 and 88 mm/24 hours. The results show the loss of natural coverage and its replacement by anthropized coverage, as well as an increase in total runoff. They also suggest that the hydrological impacts of the change of coverages are spatially heterogeneous, as runoff increased in certain areas of the basin, but decreased in others. This modelization allows identifying one of the most relevant hydrological impacts of coverage changes of the basin and also facilitates the environmental management of the different land uses.