Land use intensity assessed through geotechnology in Brazilian savannah and the effects on soil nutrient

Soils from central Brazil have been intensively used over the last decades due to the rapid conversion of savannah (Cerrado) into corn/soybean fields. This study have the aim to study modifications in the chemical properties (total carbon and total nitrogen ) of soils in the Rio Verde watershed as a function of the land use time for agriculture, as determined from Landsat satellite images. The largest values of total carbon and total nitrogen are found in soils under savannah, showing significant differences from the rest of classes of use time. A loss of up to 29 % of total nitrogen and 38% of total carbon was recorded when natural forest (savannah) soil was converted to agricultural land.