Morphometric features of Lagoa Central (Lagoa Santa, Minas Gerais State): comparison of two methodologies - doi: 10.4025/actascibiolsci.v33i3.5545

Abstract

The goal of this study was to verify the utility and accuracy of two tools to obtain a bathymetric chart for Lagoa Central (Lagoa Santa, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil) and also to assess the morphometric parameters of the lake and their implications in the ecology of this system. The tested tools were the Biosonics DT-X (Biosonics Inc.) echosounder and the SonarLite (Ohmnex Ltda) bathymeter, both coupled to a Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) to obtain the geographic coordinates associated with the depth in each point. Lagoa Central is a small, shallow (Z_max < 7.5 m), with low relative depth values (Z_r = 0.5%) and concave. This makes the water body less prone to thermal stratification and more susceptible to eutrophication. Both investigated equipments demonstrated to be suitable for the survey, user-friendly, low-cost and with sub-metric accuracy.