THE INFLUENCE OF MINING IN THE QUADRILÁTERO FERRÍFERO: LANDSCAPE SPATIAL-TEMPORAL DYNAMICS

The Quadrilátero Ferrífero – QF is the main producer/explorer of iron ore in Brazil, occupying the worldwide leadership group in Mineral Exploration. Considering all the environmental impacts associated with this activity, it is necessary to assess the landscape patterns to support the sustainable planning of mining companies. So, this paper aimed to define the temporal changes in the QF landscape's configuration and composition from 1985 to 2018 and predict 2053. The research was carried out in the QF region, located in Minas Gerais, Brazil. We used classified images of land use/cover from 1985 to 2018 to calculate the landscape metrics and perform the Land Change Modeler tool. Thus, we obtained the landscape patterns over the years and a prediction for 2053. To that content, we used class and landscape metric levels, especially to describe the spatial distribution of land use/cover, and to identify how its composition has changed over the years. The results show that the Forest class contributed the most to Mining, with +0.09% in the area. In addition, the Farming class decreased 12%, with its total area converted among the others land use/cover. Thus, the Forest and Mining patches’ areas raised by 4% and 0.2%, with a tendency for a continuous increase until 2053. However, the forest fragments tended to disaggregate, while the Mining areas tended to become more connected. These results converge to a worrying scenario from an ecological point of view. Therefore, it is necessary to have/search for better supervision related to the compliance of environmental laws to avoid biodiversity losses in mining areas.