Resumo. ABSTRACT The aim of this study is the use of geotechnology in mapping the soil cover and to assess conflicts of land use in permanent preservation areas (PPA) of a microbasin with an area of 17,759 ha located in the municipality of Alta Floresta, in Mato Grosso State. The demarcation of PPA was based on the Complementary Law No. 412 of the state of Mato Grosso, December 13, 2010. To carry out the work, it were used hydrographic map and digital elevation model to delimit the microbasin and the preservation areas. The mapping of land cover was carried out by means of supervised classification with the algorithm MaxVer using Envi 4.2 software, in a satellite image of high spatial resolution from SPOT 5 sensor, acquired in 2008. The data processing, adjustment of the projections, file creation and crossing of vector-maps of land cover and preservations areas were done in ArcGIS 9.2. The land cover classes mapped are the following: forest, pasture, water, bare soil and urban settlement. The total area of PPA (1,966.51 ha) represents 11.1 % of the microbasin area, of which most of misuse occurs with pasture (47.7 %), forest areas represent 39.5 % of total PPA. The class of exposed soil and urban occupation represent respectively 26.5 and 110.1 ha, equivalent 6.9 % of the preservation area. It could be concluded that, the image used, was found satisfactory for mapping the land cover classes on the study area. The mapping and crossing of information showed that an area of 1,074.92 ha has conflict of use according to the current environmental legislation, as there are any forms of human activity. The areas with improper use account for 54.6 % of the total PPA and are represented by pasture, bare soil and 54.6 % of the total PPA and are represented by pasture, bare soil and urban settlement.