Environmental Quality of Soil And its application in the towns of the state of Paraná, Brazil

  • Máriam Trierveiler Pereira Instituto Federal do Paraná - IFPR Câmpus Umuarama
  • Marcelino Luiz Gimenes Universidade Estadual de Maringá - UEM
  • Frederico Fonseca da Silva Instituto Federal do Paraná - IFPR Câmpus Curitiba
  • Odacir Antonio Zanatta Instituto Federal do Paraná - IFPR Câmpus Umuarama
Keywords: Urban Area, Quantitative Evaluation, Soil Use

Abstract

Soil has relevant ecological and anthropological functions for the maintenance of life on earth. Since several rural and urban activities are a liability to soil, its quality and types should be taken into consideration when employed. Current investigation developed an Index of Environmental Quality of Soil (IEQS), applied to 16 main towns and cities in the state of Paraná, Brazil, from 2000 to 2008. IEQS comprises four sub-indexes, namely, Declivity Index, Potential Index for Soil Degradation; Index of Soil Use and Index of Urbanized Areas. Results show that Foz do Iguaçu was the only town with the best environmental quality of soil during the 2000-2004 period, although the use of soil in its surroundings has changed since then and a fall in IEQS has been reported as from 2004. Further, half of the towns analyzed had a good environmental quality of soil during the period studied. Curitiba had the lowest IEQS because of its heavy urbanization.

Author Biographies

Máriam Trierveiler Pereira, Instituto Federal do Paraná - IFPR Câmpus Umuarama
Engenheira Civil, Mestre em Engenharia Ambiental e Doutoranda em Engenharia Química pela Universidade Estadual de Maringá, UEM - PR, curso técnico em Controle Ambiental do Instituto Federal do Paraná – IFPR, campus de Umuarama. E-mail: mariam.pereira@ifpr.edu.br
Marcelino Luiz Gimenes, Universidade Estadual de Maringá - UEM
Engenheiro Químico, pós-doutor em Engenharia Química, Departamento de Engenharia Química da Universidade Estadual de Maringá, UEM - PR. E-mail: marcelino@uem.deq.br
Frederico Fonseca da Silva, Instituto Federal do Paraná - IFPR Câmpus Curitiba
Engenheiro Agrônomo, doutor em Irrigação e Meio Ambiente, curso técnico em Agroecologia do Instituto Federal do Paraná – IFPR, campus de Curitiba. E-mail: frederico.silva@ifpr.edu.br
Odacir Antonio Zanatta, Instituto Federal do Paraná - IFPR Câmpus Umuarama
Engenheiro Agrônomo, doutor em Agronomia, Diretor de Ensino Instituto Federal do Paraná IFPR, campus de Umuarama. E-mail: odacir.zanatta@ifpr.edu.br
Published
2011-12-08
Section
Environment