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Flow accumulation based method for the identification of erosion risk points in unpaved roads

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Abstract

The unsuitable construction of unpaved roads has been causing problems related to the formation of erosive processes, sediments in watersheds, bogs, flooding, and holes. Presuming that the areas where flow accumulation intersects unpaved roads represent risk points, our objectives are (1) to develop a qualitative method based on the GIS software management tool (FlowAccRoad) for the identification of the intersection points between flow accumulation and roads and (2) to verify the discrepancy between the points of intersection produced by digital elevation models (DEM) accounting for different spatial resolutions. In the GIS environment, we used the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and Goiania (GOI) digital elevation models for the modeling of flow accumulation and vectorization of the unpaved roads, both of which are based on the Bandeira Stream Watershed in Goiania, Goiás, Brazil. This highlights that 54 points of intersection between the flow accumulation and unpaved roads present problems related to erosive processes and quagmires, among others. The FlowAccRoad method identified the principal critical points observed in the field, using both the DEM of 30.4 m of spatial resolution (SRTM) and also of 4.8 m of spatial resolution (GOI). From the FlowAccRoad method, we observed that 91% of the risk points identified through the GOI DEM were located less than 20 m from valid points in the field by using GPS. Analyzing the SRTM DEM, only 45% of the critical risk points identified by the method were located less than 20 m from valid points in the field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Processamento de Imagens e Geoprocessamento (Lapig/IESA), Universidade Federal de Goiás, Campus Samambaia, Alameda Palmeiras, Goiânia, Goiás, 74001-970, Brazil

    Rherison Tyrone Silva Almeida

  2. Engenharia de Biossistemas, Escola de Agronomia, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Rodovia Goiânia-Nova Veneza, Goiânia, Goiás, 74690-900, Brazil

    Nori Paulo Griebeler, Thiago Henrique Arbués Botelho & Alisson Neves Harmyans Moreira

  3. Instituto Federal de Goiás, Campus Goiânia, R. 75, Centro, Goiânia, Goiás, 74055-110, Brazil

    Max Well Rabelo de Oliveira

Authors
  1. Rherison Tyrone Silva Almeida
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  2. Nori Paulo Griebeler
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  3. Max Well Rabelo de Oliveira
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  4. Thiago Henrique Arbués Botelho
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  5. Alisson Neves Harmyans Moreira
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Correspondence to Rherison Tyrone Silva Almeida.

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Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

The model builder for the FlowAccRoad method is available for download as supplementary material. (RAR 9 kb)

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

Fig. 13
figure 13

Flowchart of the FlowAccRoad model builder corresponding to the conversion of risk raster to erosion risk points related to unpaved roads

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Fig. 14
figure 14

Interface of the model builder related to the conversion of risk raster to erosion risk points of the FlowAccRoad model

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Almeida, R.T., Griebeler, N.P., de Oliveira, M.W.R. et al. Flow accumulation based method for the identification of erosion risk points in unpaved roads. Environ Monit Assess 191, 758 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7949-3

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