Caracterização física da Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Ijuí (U090) no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

The watershed is an important instrument of environmental management, as a natural planning unit, that is why it is so essential to understand its functioning and the disturbances caused by human beings in its nature. This process includes a structured cartographic base and the Hydrologically Consistent Digital Elevation Models (HCDEM), used to better represent the topographic and hydrological characteristics of the watershed. This database can be used as a tool to support the management, planning and monitoring of the processes involved in the studies. With the help of the HCDEM, morphometric parameters can be generated, which are fundamental subsidies to help in the process of physical characterization of the watershed. The objective of this work was to restructure the digital cartographic base of the Ijuí River Basin (BHRI), to generate an HCDEM, and with this digital database, determine some morphometric parameters for better characterization of the same. To make this possible, the BHRI drainage networks were first oriented, as well as the vectorization of the axes of the double bank rivers, so that the HCDEM could be generated, with the aid of GIS software, and consequently the morphometric parameters were defined. As a result, it can be seen that the BHRI has an area of 10765.66 km² and a perimeter of 677.159 km, with an elongated or fan shape, its main river is very winding, a low slope in its extension, but little susceptible to flooding. This work was of great importance, taking into account the lack of data to support studies in the hydrographic region of Uruguay, due to its agricultural vocation and its hydroelectric potential.