Erodibility of soils in the distal portion of the São Jose dos Dourados river (SP)

• Grant number: 18/16634-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2018
• End date: September 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Civil Engineering - Geotechnical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: José Augusto de Lollo
• Grantee: Milvio Sanchez Baptista Junior
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia (FEIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Ilha Solteira. Ilha Solteira , SP, Brazil

Abstract

There is a common sense in technical and scientific circles that soil erosive processes arises from the association of several factors, e.g. soil, relief, climate, and human activities. However, many times the combined attributes indicate low potential for soil erosion development; widespread erosive processes can be found. When it occurs, it is very common that soil properties play the fundamental role in triggering erosion processes, even when the imbalance of environmental constraints is not so evident. The low São José dos Dourados region (northwest of the State of São Paulo) can be considered an area where such phenomenon is observed. Even with not very intense modifications of human activities, and with the adoption of management techniques in farming activities, associated with conditions of relief and climate that do not represent high potential, erosive processes are common in the area. Studies from agronomic researches suggest that the physical and chemical characteristics of soils can be very relevant soil erosion dynamics in the region. The project intends to investigate, through geotechnical laboratory test of erodibility, the influence soils properties in triggering erosion. Such an approach is based on the fact that besides the intrinsic factors of the chemical and physical nature of the soil, there are structural and compacting characteristics of the soils that interfere in its erodibility and that can only be captured by tests that simulate the conditions of occurrence of the process.