ABSTRACT

The intervention of man over nature for the production of geographical space has occurred without the

proper concern to achieve the balance between the use of these goods and the dynamics of nature. In

this bias, the context of land use from the 1960s in Brazil and the state of Mato Grosso was based on

agricultural production, the result of the adoption of economic policies aimed at the occupation of the

Brazilian west, associated with environmental physical possibilities (soil , Climate, relief and

vegetation) suitable for large-scale monoculture planting to meet national and international demands

related to agribusiness financial systems. The River Plate Basin (BHRP) is one of the areas affected

by intensive land use for agricultural purposes, presenting environmental problems related to the

unsustainable use of its area, such as soil loss due to erosion and gullies. The BHRP is located in the

municipalities of Jaciara, Juscimeira and Santo Antônio do Leverger, it has 457.96 km², being

between the coordinates: latitude: 16 ° 12'50.98 "S, longitude: 55 ° 23'1.76" W and latitude: 16 °

6'30.45 "S, longitude: 54 ° 56'27.51" W, west-east direction. This is part of the northern portion of the

Paraná Sedimentary Basin and is part of the São Lourenço River Basin, a contributor to the Mato

Grosso Pantanal. . The present study analyzed the environmental conditions of the Prata River Basin

associated to the physiographic aspects of the basin, the use and occupation of the land and the

production of the local geographic space, a geosystemic approach was used for landscape analysis,

as well as technical procedures of Geographic information (GIS), all associated with field verification.

As a result of the integrated environmental analysis, the geomorphological mapping with a scale of 1:

25: 000 was obtained. The physiognomies (Erosive Escarps, Coluvian Reservoirs, Eroded Surfaces,

Morros Testimonies, "V" and "u" valleys, wet valleys, rocky outcrops) and current processes of laminar

and mechanical erosion (76 events). These features and processes were interrelated with other

physiographic aspects (pedology, geology and climatology) and land use, a factor that allowed the

sectorization of four areas of distinct fragility in the BHRP. Another bias of the research was the study

of the impacts that occurred at the mouth of the Prata River, which was drowned by the construction of

the Zé Fernando SHPP in the São Lourenço River, a fact that caused a change in the morphometric

parameters of the BHRP and a possible change in the landscape dynamics for the area study.

Key Words: Environmental Analysis, Production space, River Plate Jaciara-MT