Coordinador: Prof. Franco Urbani. Apartado Telefax: 58 , Correo-e: urbani cantv. Igualmente se pide que obtengan copias en papel para las bibliotecas de sus instituciones. Geological and Paleontological Sites of Brazil - In: Schobbenhaus,C. The karst here lies in the transition zone between the Atlantic Plateau and the Coastal Lowlands, and stands out for its steep hydraulic gradients, its important alogenic recharge and incised underground drainage with vadose canyons up to 60 m deep, where vertical caves or abysses and huge collapse halls are common.
Polygonal karst with deep blind valleys and karst canyons occur at the surface, and this pattern distinguishes the Ribeira Valley karst from other Brazilian karst regions.
Amongst the more than two hundred known caves, the Santana cave with 6. The carbonate rocks in the area belong to the Middle Proterozoic Lajeado Subgroup. The environmental importance of the area is due to the association between usually well-preserved tropical forest, exceptionally rugged relief, and cave systems whose unique underground scenery combines a wide variety of speleothem forms and Quaternary palaeontological sites.
This geological site is geomorphologically and speleologically exuberant, with polygonal karst, cones and karst canyons, deep river valleys and rocky escarpments with cave entrances, underground drainage systems with a wide speleomorphological variety, and Quaternary paleontological sites.
PETAR lies on the southeastern flank of the Paranapiacaba hill range, with mountainous relief and altitude differences of up to m. The area belongs to the Ribeira mountains IPT and is a transition zone between the Atlantic Plateau, at , m in the northwest of the Park, and the Coastal Lowlands to the East and Southeast, with altitudes up to about m Fig. Since the river basins drain the Ribeira mountains, the rivers have entrenched valleys and longitudinal profiles with medium or high gradients with locall waterfalls.
