EROSION HAZARDS INDEX FOR LATERITIC SOILS

Lateritic soils found around Belo Horizonte City, Brazil, are highly weathered, acidic, developed in place, and prone to erosion and landslides. Engineers consider similar soils to cover 65% of the Brazilian superficial area. This paper presents a reconnaissance survey of erosion hazards in the City of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The survey covered more than 1,800 erosion-prone areas. From this study, a georeferenced map was constructed and an erosion index was established to estimate soil loss in each studied area. The erosion indexing methodology and the map, which is based on measured data, are useful with respect to information on erosion hazards in the region. Also, they provide national institutions with a general appraisal of the overall extent of soil erosion in Belo Horizonte. Results have shown that 74% of the registered eroded sites are located in the "Complex Belo Horizonte" geology, where 14.2%/sq km consists of coarse gneiss and 14.1%/sq km consists of milonitic gneiss. The Inderbitzen test results clearly indicate that saprolitic soils derived from gneiss are more susceptible to erosion. These soils are more sandy, less plastic, and have high values of permeability in field. Observed field erodibility agrees with the Inderbitzen tests.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/15276988
• Corporate Authors:

  American Society of Civil Engineers

  1801 Alexander Bell Drive
  Reston, VA  United States  20191-4400
• Authors:
  • de Sanctis Viana, C
  • de Brito Galvao, T C
• Publication Date: 2003-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 82-89
• Serial:
  • Natural Hazards Review
  • Volume: 4
  • Issue Number: 2
  • Publisher: American Society of Civil Engineers
  • ISSN: 1527-6988
  • EISSN: 1527-6996
  • Serial URL: http://ascelibrary.org/journal/nhrefo

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Erosion; Geological surveying; Gneiss; Hazard analysis; Lateritic soils; Permeability; Plasticity; Reconnaissance; Soil mapping
• Uncontrolled Terms: Saprolitic soils
• Geographic Terms: Belo Horizonte (Brazil)
• Subject Areas: Geotechnology; Highways; I42: Soil Mechanics;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00941224
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 27 2003 12:00AM