Serra do Mar
| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
|---|---|
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| Location | Rio De Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Brazil |
| Criteria | Natural: (vii)(ix)(x) |
| Reference | 893rev |
| Inscription | 1999 (23rd Session) |
| Area | 468,193 ha (1,807.70 sq mi) |
| Buffer zone | 1,223,557 ha (4,724.18 sq mi) |
| Coordinates | 24°10′S 48°0′W / 24.167°S 48.000°W |
The Serra do Mar (pt; [[ language|]] for Sea Range) is a 1,500 km (930 mi)-long group of mountains and cliffs in Southeastern Brazil.
Geography
The Serra do Mar are next to the Atlantic Ocean, from Espírito Santo to southern Santa Catarina. Some writers say Serra Geral is part of the Serra do Mar, so it would go to northeastern Rio Grande do Sul.
The main cliff is between the sea-level littoral and the inland table-shaped land (planalto). It is about 500 to 1,300 metres (1,600 to 4,300 ft) above sea level. This cliff is part of the Great Escarpment that runs along much of the eastern coast of Brazil south from the city of Salvador, Bahia.
Mountain ranges
The mountain ranges have some breaks between them, so they have different names: Serra de Bocaina, Serra de Paranapiacaba, Serra Negra, Serra dos Órgãos, Serra do Indaiá, etc. The range also goes to some large islands near the coastline, such as Ilhabela and Ilha Anchieta. Pico da Caledônia in Nova Friburgo is one of the highest places in Serra do Mar, 2,255 metres (7,398 ft).
The Serra do Mar has crystalline rock platform that forms Eastern South America. It is tectonically stable.
Natural history
Most of the Serra do Mar formed about 60 million years ago.
At the time of the European discovery of Brazil (1500), many living things lived in the Serra do Mar. It had a lot of tropical rain forest, called Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica). Due to people building towns and cities and cutting down too many trees, however, most of the forest cover is gone. There is still some forest in steep places where people cannot build things easily.
A chain of national and state parks, ecological stations, and biological reserves now protect the Mata Atlântica and its biological heritage, but acid rain, pollution, illegal hunters, illegal loggers, forest fires, and urban areas and farms still hurt the forest, especially near cities. There are large cities near the Serra do Mar: Vale do Itajaí, Curitiba, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
It is very difficult for trees to grow back.
Other websites
- Flora of the Atlantic Forest
- Ecoregions of the Atlantic Forest biome
- List of plants of Atlantic Forest vegetation of Brazil
Serra do Mar.
References
- ↑ Angulo, R. J., G. C. Lessa, M. C. de Souza (2009). The Holocene Barrier Systems of Paranaguá and Northern Santa Catarina Coasts, Southern Brazil. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences 107: 135-176.
External links
- Atlantic Forest South-East Reserves UNESCO Collection on Google Arts and Culture
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