Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Conclusion and Perspectives

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Landforms and Landscape Evolution of the Equatorial Margin of Northeast Brazil

Part of the book series: Springer Earth System Sciences ((SPRINGEREARTH))

  • 318 Accesses

Abstract

The discontinuous escarpment of Ceará-Rio Grande do Norte appears as a composite landform. Its definition matches that of Great Escarpments that develop on initial high-elevation margins, with landward retreat of the initial rift-flank uplift. Nevertheless, the term “marginal escarpment ” appears more appropriate, corresponding to a particular tectonic and geodynamic pattern (transform margin without strong uplift ). In all parts of the marginal escarpment, significant erosion, probably more by downwearing than by backwearing , took place, helped by post-rift flexure that reduced the thickness of the rock slice to be eroded. Our estimation of regional magnitudes of Cenozoic crustal deformation and denudation leads us to discuss recently published models of long-term geomorphic evolution based upon the results of thermochronological analyses. We stress the fundamental importance of taking into account the results of geomorphic approaches in any interpretation of thermochronological and other analytic methods used for reconstructing long-term landscape evolutions. Moreover, the morphostructural and morphopedological approaches used in our study of landforms and landscape evolution in Northeast Brazil gives some clues and new scientific data that help assessing geodiversity of this large territory. Our contribution relies both on geomorphodiversity and pedodiversity aspects. At a finer scale, it may also help identifying valuable geomorphological sites (or geomorphosites ) whose scientific and other values (cultural, aesthetic, ecological…) might justify their integration into the national network of Brazilian geosites .

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Barreto AMF, Brilha JBR, Sales AMF, Almeida JAC (2012) Patrimônio paleontológico e geoconservação da Formação Santana (Cretáceo Inferior da Bacia do Araripe, Pernambuco e Piauí: Nordeste do Brasil). In: Henriques MH, Andrade AI, Quinta-Ferreira M, Lopes FC, Barata MT, Reis RP, Machado A (eds) Para aprender com a Terra: memórias e notícias de Geociências no espaço lusófono. Imprensa da Universidade, Coimbra, pp 311–320. doi:10.14195/978-989-26-0533-3_33

  • Beard JS (2003) Palaeodrainage and the geomorphic evolution of passive margins in southwestern Australia. Palaeodrainage and the geomorphic evolution of passive margins in southwestern Australia (with 7 figures). Zeitschrift für. Geomorphologie 47(3):273–288

    Google Scholar 

  • Bétard F (2007) Montagnes humides au cœur du Nordeste brésilien semi-aride: le cas du massif de Baturité (Ceará). Apports d’une approche morphopédologique pour la connaissance et la gestion des milieux. Ph.D. thesis, Univ Paris-Sorbonne

    Google Scholar 

  • Bétard F (2010) Uplift and denudation history at low-elevation passive margins: insights from morphostratigraphic analysis in the SE Armorican Massif along the French Atlantic margin. CR Geoscience 342:215–222. doi:10.1016/j.crte.2010.02.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bétard F (2012) Spatial variations of soil weathering processes in a tropical mountain environment: the Baturité massif and its piedmont (Ceará, NE Brazil). Catena 93(18–28):2012. doi:10.1016/j.catena.01.013

    Google Scholar 

  • Bétard F, Peulvast JP (2011) Evolução morfoestrutural e morfopedológica do maciço de Baturité e de seu piemonte: do Cretáceo ao Presente. In: Bastos FH (ed) Serra de Baturité: Uma Visão Integrada das Questões Ambientais. Expressão Gráfica e Editora, Fortaleza, pp 35–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Bétard F, Peulvast JP (2013) Non-lateritic red soils of the Brazilian drylands: pedogenic processes and landscape evolution. In: 8th International conference on geomorphology. Paris, 27–31 Aug 2013, Abstracts volume, p 594

    Google Scholar 

  • Bétard F, Peulvast JP, Claudino Sales V (2005) Laterite preservation and soil distribution in the Araripe-Campos Sales area, Northeastern Brazil: consequences of uplift, erosion and climatic change. In: 6th International conference on geomorphology. Zaragoza, 7–11 Sept 2005, Abstracts volume, p 69

    Google Scholar 

  • Bétard F, Peulvast JP, Claudino Sales V (2007) Caracterização morfopedológica de uma serra úmida no Semi-árido do Nordeste brasileiro: o caso do maciço de Baturité-CE. Mercator 12:107–125

    Google Scholar 

  • Bétard F, Caner L, Gunnell Y (2009) Bourgeon G (2009) Illite neoformation in plagioclase during weathering: evidence from semi-arid Northeast Brazil. Geoderma 152:53–62. doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.05.016

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bétard F, Peulvast JP, Rabassa J, Aguilera E (2014) Meso-Cenozoic paleotopographies and paleolandscapes in the Deseado Massif (Santa Cruz province, Argentina). In: Rabassa J, Ollier C (eds) Gondwana landscapes in southern South America. Springer, Berlin, pp 477–501

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Brown RW, Gallagher K, Gleadow AJW, Summerfield MA (2000) Morphotectonic evolution of the South Atlantic margins of Africa and South America. In: Summerfield MA (ed) Geomorphology and global tectonics. Wiley, Chichester, pp 255–281

    Google Scholar 

  • Brunsden D (1993a) The persistance of landforms. Z Geomorph Suppl Bd 93:13–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Brunsden D (1993b) Barriers to geomorphological change. In: Thomas DSG, Allison RJ (eds) Landscape sensitivity. Wiley, Chichester, pp 7–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Conto RG (2004) Atlas de conservação da natureza brasileira. Unidades federais, Metalivros, São Paulo

    Google Scholar 

  • CPRM-Serviço Geológico do Brasil (2006) Mapa geodiversidade do Brasil. CPRM, Brasília

    Google Scholar 

  • Dowling RK (2011) Geotourism’s global growth. Geoheritage 3(1):1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farsani NT, Coelho C, Costa C (2011) Geotourism and geoparks as novel strategies for socio-economic development in rural areas. Int J Tourism Res 13(1):68–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gray M (2004) Geodiversity: valuing and conserving abiotic nature. Wiley, Chichester

    Google Scholar 

  • Gray M (2008) Geoheritage 1. geodiversity: a new paradigm for valuing and conserving geoheritage. Geosci Can 35(2):51–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Guichard E (1970) Les sols du Bassin du Rio Jaguaribe. Mémoire ORSTOM 40, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Gurgel SPP, Bezerra FHR, Corréa ACB, Marques FO, Maia RP (2013) Cenozoic uplift and erosion of structural landforms in NE Brazil. Geomorphology 186:68–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harman R, Gallagher K, Brown R, Raza A (1998) Accelerated denudation and tectonic/geomorphic reactivation of the cratons of northeastern Brazil during the Late Cretaceous. J Geophys Res 103:27091–27105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris SE, Mix AC (2002) Climate and tectonic influences on continental erosion of tropical South America, 0–13 Ma. Geology 30(5):447–450

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herzog H, Sales A, Hillmer G (2008) The UNESCO araripe geopark: a short story of the evolution of life, rocks and continents. Expressão Gráfica e Editora, Fortaleza

    Google Scholar 

  • Ibañez JJ, De-Albs S, Bermúdez FF, García-Álvarez A (1995) Pedodiversity: concepts and measures. Catena 24(3):215–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Japsen P, Bonow JM, Green PF, Cobbold PR, Chiossi D, Lilletveit R, Magnavita LP, Pedreira A (2012) Episodic burial and exhumation in NE Brazil after opening of the South Atlantic. Geol Soc Am Bull 124:800–816

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kooi H, Beaumont C (1994) Escarpment evolution on high-elevation rifted margins: insights derived from a surface processes model that combines diffusion, advection, and reaction. J Geophys Res 99:12191–12209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mabesoone JM, Castro C (1975) Desenvolvimento geomorfológico do nordeste brasileiro. Bol Núcleo Nordeste da SGB, Recife 3:5–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Magalhães AO (2014) Crues éclair et inondations urbaines dans le sertão du Nordeste brésilien (Rio Grangeiro, Crato, Ceará): perception et gestion d’un risque naturel méconnu. BAGF-Géographies 3:257–275

    Google Scholar 

  • Magalhães AO, Peulvast JP (2013) Aléas et risques naturels dans l’intérieur semi-ride du Nordeste brésilien: la crue-éclair du rio Grangeiro (Crato, Ceará) du 28 janvier 2011. EchoGéo 26. doi:10.4000/echogeo.13596

  • Magnavita LP, Davison I, Kuznir NJ (1994) Rifting, erosion and uplift history of the Reconcavo-Tucano-Jatoba Rift, Northeast Brazil. Tectonics 13:367–388

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marques FO, Nogueira FCC, Bezerra FHR, de Castro DL (2014) The Araripe basin in NE Brazil: an intracontinental graben inverted to a high-standing horst. Tectonophysics 630:251–264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martill DM, Bechly G, Loveridge RF (2007) The crato fossil beds of Brazil: window into an ancient world. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Migoń P (2006) Granite landscapes of the world. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Mochiutti NF, Guimarães GB, Moreira JC, Lima FL, Freitas FI (2012) Os Valores da Geodiversidade: Geossítios do Geopark Araripe/CE. Anuário do Instituto de Geociências – UFRJ 35(1):173–189

    Google Scholar 

  • Morais Neto JM, Hegarty K, Karner GD (2005–2006) Abordagem preliminar sobre paleotemperatura e evolução do relevo da bacia do Araripe, Nordeste do Brasil, a partir da análise de traços de fissão em apatita. Bol Geoci Petrobras 14:113–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Morais Neto JM, Vasconcelos PM, Stone J, Lima MG (2010) Variability of erosion rates captured by 10Be cosmogenic isotope: a case study in the Seridó valley, northeastern Brazil. VII SSAGI-South American Symposium on Isotope Geology, Brasilia

    Google Scholar 

  • Nascimento MAL, Ruchkys UA, Mantesso-Neto V (2008) Geodiversidade, geoconservação e geoturismo. Trinômia importante para a proteção do patrimônio geológico. Soc Bras Geol, São Paulo

    Google Scholar 

  • Panizza M (2009) The geomorphodiversity of the Dolomites (Italy): a key of geoheritage assessment. Geoheritage 1:33–42. doi:10.1007/s12371-009-0003-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pazzaglia FJ, Gardner TW (2000) Late Cenozoic landscape evolution of the US Atlantic passive margin: insights into a North American great escarpment. In: Summerfield MA (ed) Geomorphology and global tectonics. Wiley, Chichester, pp 283–301

    Google Scholar 

  • Pereira DI, Santos L, Silva J, Pereira P, Brilha JB, Silva J, Rodrigues C (2012) Mapping regional geodiversity in Brazil and Portugal. Geologia dell’Ambiente, Suppl 3:107–108

    Google Scholar 

  • Peulvast JP, Bétard F (2013) Late Cenozoic and present-day hillslope erosion dynamics in a passive margin context: stability or instability? Case studies in Northeast Brazil. Geografia Fisica e Dinamica Quaternaria 36(1):139–149. doi:10.4461/GFDQ.2013.36.0

    Google Scholar 

  • Peulvast JP, Bétard F (2015) A history of basin inversion, scarp retreat and shallow denudation: the Araripe basin as a keystone for understanding long-term landscape evolution in NE Brazil. Geomorphology 233:20–40. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2014.10.009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peulvast JP, Claudino Sales V (2004) Stepped surfaces and palaeolandforms in the northern Brazilian “Nordeste”: constraints on models of morphotectonic evolution. Geomorphology 62:89–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peulvast JP, Vanney JR (2002) Géomorphologie structurale, tome 2. Relief et géodynamique. CPI-GB Science Publication, BRGM Editions, Paris, Orléans

    Google Scholar 

  • Peulvast JP, Claudino Sales V, Bétard F, Gunnell Y (2008) Low post-Cenomanian denudation depths across the Brazilian Northeast: implications for long-term landscape evolution at a transform continental margin. Global Planet Change 62:39–60. doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2007.11.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peulvast JP, Bétard F, Magalhães AO (2011) Scarp morphology and identification of large-scale mass movements in tropical tablelands: the eastern Araripe basin (Ceará, Brazil). Géomorphologie: relief, processus, environnement 1:33–52. doi:10.4000/geomorphologie.8800

  • Pugh JC (1966) The landforms of low latitudes. In: Drury GH (ed) Essays in geomorphology, Heinemann edn. Books Ltd, London, pp 121–138

    Google Scholar 

  • RadamBrasil P (1981a) Levantamento integrado dos recursos naturais do Brasil. Folha Fortaleza. Ministério das Minas e Energia-MME, Brasilia

    Google Scholar 

  • RadamBrasil Projeto (1981b) Levantamento integrado dos recursos naturais do Brasil. Folha Jaguaribe-Natal, Ministério das Minas e Energia-MME, Brasilia

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharples C (2002) Concepts and principles of geoconservation. Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service website

    Google Scholar 

  • Silva CR (2008) Geodiversidade do Brasil: conhecer o passado, para entender o presente e prever o futuro. CPRM, Serviço Geológico do Brasil

    Google Scholar 

  • Tennesen (2014) Rare earth. Science 346:692–695

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas MF (1989a) The role of etch processes in landform development. I. Etching concepts and their applications. Z Geomorph NF 33(2):129–142

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas MF (1989b) The role of etch processes in landform development. II. Etching and the formation of relief. Z Geomorph NF 33(3):257–274

    Google Scholar 

  • Vilas-Boas M, Lima F, Brilha JB (2012) Conservation of the palaeontological heritage of Araripe Geopark (Ceará, Brazil): threats and possible solutions. Geologia dell’Ambiante Suppl 3:87–88

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, France

    Jean-Pierre Peulvast

  2. Université Paris-Diderot, Paris, France

    François Bétard

Authors
  1. Jean-Pierre Peulvast
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. François Bétard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jean-Pierre Peulvast .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Peulvast, JP., Bétard, F. (2015). Conclusion and Perspectives. In: Landforms and Landscape Evolution of the Equatorial Margin of Northeast Brazil. Springer Earth System Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18203-2_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation