RAINFALL CHARACTERIZATION AND SEDIMENTOLOGICAL RESPONSES OF WATERSHEDS WITH DIFFERENT LAND USES TO PRECIPITATION IN THE SEMIARID REGION OF BRAZIL

Abstract

ABSTRACT The objective of this work was to evaluated the precipitation characteristics (depth, I30 and erosivity) and their effects on sediment production in three watersheds under different managements of land use 35-year regenerating Caatinga (RC), thinned Caatinga (TC), which underwent thinning of trees with diameter smaller than 10 cm; and deforested Caatinga (followed by burning and pasture) (DC). The experimente was conducted in the central, tropical semiarid region of the State of Ceará, Brazil. The precipitation events, surface runoff and sediment production were monitored from 2010 to 2015. The precipitation characteristics were subjected to Pearson's correlation at 1 and 5% of significance and the events that produced sediments in each watershed were hierarchically grouped by hierarchical cluster analysis technique. Two hundred precipitation events were recorded, with 23 (RC), 18 (TC) and 43 (DC) events producing sediments. The use of thinning (TC) decreased the sediment production by 53.5%, while the deforestation, burn and pasture cultivation (DC) increased soil losses by 14%, compared with the RC. The sediment production was greatly correlated with the I30 in the three watersheds, denoting the erosion process great dependence on the precipitation intensity.