Advance of the agricultural frontier in the area adjacent to Sierras de la Ventana Range (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Se determinó el incremento de la superficie agrícola en el área adyacente al Sistema Sierras de la Ventana (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Para ello se emplearon imágenes satelitales Landsat 5 TM de diversas fechas, realizándose una comparación entre la campaña agrícola 1998/ 1999 con respecto a la 2006/ 2007. El análisis llevado a cabo demuestra que existe un incremento en la superficie dedicada a la actividad agrícola que asciende a 55572 has, lo que representa en un aumento del 27,97 %. El mismo es originado principalmente por la propagación de los cultivos de verano, principalmente de la soja, de significativa expansión en la República Argentina en las últimas dos décadas.The increase of the agricultural area in the Sierras de la Ventana System adjacent zone (Buenos Aires province, Argentina) was developed. Several Landsat 5 TM satellital images were selected in order to make a multitemporal study. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index - NDVI - was obtained for each satellital scene. Selected scenes represented several phenological stages for each crop during the 1998/ 1999 and 2006/ 2007 periods. According to the NDVI evolution, winter and summer cultivations were identified. A comparative study between both periods shows an increment of agricultural area of 55572 has. which represents that it has increased 27,97 %. It has its origin in the summer cultivation expansion especially soybean according to the tendency in Argentine during the last two decades