Assessing Land Use and Land Cover Change in the Volta Grande Do Xingu (Pará – Brazil) Between 2000 and 2017

Abstract

This study aims to assess the land use and land cover change through the use of three pixel-based methods of image classification (Mahalanobis, Maximum Likelihood, and Minimum Distance) in the region of Volta Grande do Xingu (Brazilian Amazon), under influence of the Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant. Different pixel-based classification methods were performed on Landsat 7 and 8 multispectral products from the years 2000 and 2017, using a 2008 map as the ground truth image. The accuracies of the classifications were compared, and land use change analyses were performed in the different scenarios. The main impacts regarding land use and land cover change were from forest to agro pasture, from non-river to river upstream the Xingu river, and from river to non-river in the south of the Volta Grande do Xingu, resulting in rocks exposure.