Building a digital soil data base of the solimões river region in the brazilian central amazon

Abstract

The region near the Solimões river in the Brazilian Central Amazon receives much attention because of oil and gas transport from the Urucu river Province to the refinery in Manaus. Information about soil characteristics and its spatial distribution is important to allow secure intervention in the case of an accident (oil spill). The objectives of this chapter is to present the methodology used to built a soil digital data base of this region combining soil surveys that are mainly available as printed maps at different scales. First, the soil maps were scanned and vectorized and the soil units were identified. All information was put in a digital soil database, with scales from 1:250,000 to 1:10,000. The predominant soils near the borders of Solimões River are Eutric Fluvisols and Eutric Gleysols, whereas in the terra firme predominate yellow Ferralsols, Acrisols and Plinthosols occur. Some Podzols are found scattered in the area, normally at the base of short valleys. Anthrosols with rich antropic horizons also occur, which are called Terra Preta de Índio. A soil digital database using this approach to collect all information can be used to plan, monitor and reduce the impacts caused by the petroleum exploitation. It is also useful for land use planners in this region. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.