Author(s)

Gustavo Moran¹, Pedro Paolini Cuadra², Valenty Gonzalez³, John-Paul Arp⁴, Paul A. Arp^4*

¹Surnorte Inc., Aurora, Canada.
²LP Consultores Ltda., Santiago, Chile.
³Creativa-Consultores Ltda., Ciudad de Panama, Panama.
⁴Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada.

Urban and non-urban settlements in many regions are usually located on the lands bordering shores, rivers, canals or streams. However, housing complexes, landfills, and areas for agriculture and mining are often assigned to locations without sufficiently detailed hydrographic information about subsequent potential if not actual flow and flooding impacts. Yet, for sustainable community planning with emphasis on harmonizing social, economic, environmental and institutional aspects, such information is essential. This article demonstrates how this need can in part be accommodated by way of digital elevation and wet-area modelling and mapping using the upper component of the Choapa watershed in Chile as a case study. The terrain of this area has sharply incised valleys, with communities, fields and roads strung narrowly along the Choapa River and its tributaries. Above these locations along the Estero de Los Pelambres near the Chile-Argentina border are major mining and mineral refining activities. This article provides modelling and mapping details about the wet-to-moist area zonation along the upper Choapa River valleys, and addresses some of the mining-induced changes from 2000 to 2010.

Digital Elevation Modelling, Flow-Channel and Wet-Areas Mapping, Communications, Mining, Land-Use, Settlements, Hydrological Concerns

Moran, G. , Cuadra, P. , Gonzalez, V. , Arp, J. and Arp, P. (2017) Digitally Mapping the Hydro-Topographical Context for Community Planning: A Case Study for the Upper Choapa River Watershed in Chile. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 5, 265-277. doi: 10.4236/gep.2017.53019.