Brazil is a country that has a very large area. Therefore, its surface presents a great variety of relief, such as plain areas, mountain ranges, plateaus, among other forms. But and thevolcanoes? Do they exist in Brazil?
No, no are there! Brazil does not suffer from volcanism. But you know why are there no volcanoes in Brazil?
The answer to this question comes down to two basic reasons:
1º –The Brazilian territory is located in an area where there are no encounters between tectonic plates. It is precisely in the areas where this meeting takes place that the vast majority of active volcanoes on the planet appear.
2nd - The brazilian relief is of ancient geological formation, for it was constituted in the Archeozoic and Proterozoic geological ages billions of years ago! In the past, there were even volcanoes, but as they were exposed to external agents of relief transformation (water, wind, climate, etc.) for a long time, they gradually wore out. Today volcanoes no longer exist or are no longer active.
The oldest volcano that is known in the whole world, it is even Brazilian, but, as we have already said, it is no longer active. This volcano, which does not have an official name and is located in the Amazon region, between the Tapajós and Jamanxim rivers, has an estimated age of approximately 1 billion and nine hundred million years. Is a long time!
Rumors about volcanoes in Brazil
There are many rumors and confusion about volcanoes in Brazil. However, this is all a big mistake that only serves to confuse people and spread false information. There is, for example, news of an alleged discovery by American scientists about aactive volcano in the city of Santos (SP), however, this research never existed.
A similar story was also told in the same region a long time ago about a volcano in the Macuco district, which would have been discovered after excavations carried out caused some sources of hot gases to appear in the year of 1896. However, years later, it was discovered that it was just an artesian well.
There are also beliefs that other cities may have volcanoes, such as Poços de Caldas (MG), which is located in an area of volcanic origin, but totally inactive and which, today, forms a plateau region. There are those who say that the city was built on a volcano's “caldeira”, which is also not true, as it is just an area where the relief has sunk thanks to granitic intrusions.
Finally, there are also doubts about a possiblevolcano in the cities of Caldas Novas and Rio Quente (GO), which would be an explanation for the fact that these cities have hot springs. However, water temperature occurs because of a process called geothermal heating and it has no relationship with volcanism, which never occurred in the region, even in remote times.
By Me. Rodolfo Alves Pena
