Morphometric Characterization of the Microbasins of the Apeu River, Para, Brazil

The management of river basins and water resources follows the law of the National Water Resources Policy, which, aided by software, statistical techniques and concepts of geomorphology, helps to analyze the physical parameters of the environmental system in a GIS environment. The aim of this study is to apply multivariate analysis to morphometric parameters extracted from the automatic delimitation of micro-drainage basins, allowing them to be characterized as management units in land management. The methodology follows the steps: photointerpretation of the drainage digitalization; production of the corrected MDE; delimitation and extraction of the automatic hydrography; and multivariate statistical analysis of the parameters. This resulted in the automatic delimitation of the micro-basins and drainage of the Apeu river basin. The parameters Average Basin Slope, Shape Factor and Circularity Index had the greatest influence on the total variation in morphometric data. The cluster analysis made it possible to generate management units with similar characteristics, as well as to define the relevant parameters in their formation, enabling planning and territorial management actions in the area.