Geoenvironmental Parameters in the Historical Process of Land Use Guarulhos, São Paulo State, Brazil.

Abstract

The geoenvironmental parameters and the historical processes conditioned land use and occupation of the Guarulhos municipal area, from the 16th century until present day. The city of Guarulhos, located in the São Paulo Area, holds the second largest urban population in the State of São Paulo, estimated at 1,300,000 inhabitants. Under the point of view of the physical environment, the study area was subdivided into two main macrocompartments, identified as north and south, separated by the Jaguari river geological fault, with N70oE direction. The northern macrocompartment is characterized by the presence of igneous and metamorphic rocks and an uneven topography containing mountains and hills of various heights. The southern macrocompartment is composed mainly of sedimentary rocks of Cenozoic age and its topography is even leveled and flat where one finds fluvial plains and small hills. The economic activities which depicted the historical process of land use and occupation of Guarulhos can be divided into three main types: mineral extraction, agricultural and industrial activities, associated to the urban expansion. In the northern macrocompartment, for example, the crushed stone exploration is located in an area which in the past was used for the extraction of gold. In the southern macrocompartment, mineral exploitalion activities are presently directed towards clay, sand and groundwater. Industrialization, synchronous with intense urban occupation, was concentrated on hills and fluvial plains, as a function of important business activities there installed, such as the construction of the President Dutra federal highway and the City of São Paulo International Airport at Guarulhos. Presently, this urban development has also reached the hilly and mountainous landscape, thus threatening the protection of hydrological resources, such as dams planned for public water distribution, and the important tropical rainforest remnants.