Mato-Grosso has a large territory, in which there is a wide variety of natural resources and landscapes.
Given the immense biodiversity, the main features of relief, climate, vegetation, hydrography, in addition to the ecological reserves that are present in the region will be addressed.
Relief
The Relief shows the irregularities of the earth's surface. The territory of Mato-Grosso is composed of a low altitude relief, thus, a large part of the state space is flat.
However, this type of relief is divided into three types of compounds, called units, which are all distinct. Are they:
- Mato Grosso Plateau: formation from crystalline plateaus and sedimentary plateaus, in which altitudes can vary between 400 and 800 meters in relation to sea level. This plateau has the function of dividing the waters of important basins, such as Paraguay and some rivers in the Amazon basin.
- Sandstone-Basalt Plateau: formed by the last two elements, they can be found in the south of Mato-Grosso.
- Mato Grosso Plateau: it is established in a lowered area, in the south of the Brazilian plateau there is the dividing line between the two basins, Paraguay and Amazon.
From these considerations, the main elevations (mountains) of the relief contained in the State of Mato Grosso:
- Serra dos Parecis
- Serra Formosa
- Serra do Norte
- Serra dos Caiabis
- Serra dos Apiacás
- Serra do Roncador
In addition to the mountain ranges mentioned, there is another variation of the relief, which are the depressions, thus the two main ones are:
- Upper Xingu Depression
- Middle Araguaia Depression
Climate
The state's climate varies according to geographic location. Based on this statement, the prevailing climate is the super-humid tropical, characteristic of the Amazon climate, in which there are high temperatures, something around 26ºC in relation to the annual average and a high incidence of precipitation that reaches 2,000 mm at year.
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Another type of climate of great influence in the state is tropical, which has two well-defined seasons, one dry and the other rainy.
Vegetation
A large portion of Mato Grosso's territory is composed of vegetation cover of equatorial forest, which corresponds to the type of vegetation in the Amazon forest.
To the south of the capital, Cuiabá, the type of vegetation that predominates is the cerrado, this biome is composed of low trees with twisted trunks, thick leaves and bark, as well as a vast undergrowth formed by native grasses and bushes.
In the area where the Pantanal is located, the type of vegetation is varied, called by scholars the transition area between cerrado, fields, dry forest, equatorial forest, tropical forest, thus, there is no homogeneous type of vegetation.
Hydrography
Mato Grosso is bathed by two important basins, the Amazon River basin and the Paraguay River basin, the The main rivers in the Amazon basin are Araguaia, Rio das Mortes, Xingu, Juruena, Manoel Teles Pires and Roosevelt.
conservation parks
- Pantanal National Park in Mato Grosso.
- Chapada dos Guimarães National Park.
- Taiamã Ecological Station.
- Serra das Araras Ecological Station
- Meandros do Araguaia Environmental Preservation Area.
By Eduardo de Freitas
Graduated in Geography
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
PERCILIA, Eliene. "Natural aspects of Mato Grosso"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/brasil/aspectos-naturais-matogrosso.htm. Accessed on June 28, 2021.
