Brazil - Serra da Capivara National Park and Permanent Preservation Areas

Area: 129.139,9 hectares- Perimeter: 214,2 Km Three Permanent Preservation Area's (APP's), contiguous to the Park, were created as Biological Reserves on 12th March 1990, of 35.000 ha. total area: Area l: Serra Vermelba/Angelical 8.500 ha, perim. 60 Km; Area Il: Serra do Cumbre/Chapada da Pedra Hume 18.500 ha, perim. 90 Km Area lil: Serra da Capivara/Baixao das Andorinhas 8.000 ha, perim. 50 Km Climate: hot semi-arid with 5 month dry winter. . temp: 28° C year average. · pluv: extremes: 250 to 1.200 mm total /year; average: 689 mm total/year. Altitude: +/-200 - 630 m. Geomorphology and hydrology: Three geomorphologic units shape the area: 1. west of the area, arenite metamorphic high plateau's (Planalto), 500-630 m high, with homogeneous plane or slightly undulated tops. 2. In the centre, the Cuesta zone: highly irregular Siluro-Devonian arenite network of canyons, ravines, corridors and eroded formations and " ruins" . 3. eastward, a 60 to 80 Km erosion plain with isolated inselbergs of harder granites and calcareous islets. The chapada's tops are covered by laterite well drained soils. Iron oxides hard concretion cover of 1-2 mm appear on the chapada's limits and Cuesta edges, where soils were washed out, forming sterile area's. In the ravines and at the canyons' ends, silex gravel and rocks, left by brutal water invasions, accumulate. In the plain and shallow valleys, clay and sands deposited. White alluvial sands appeor in the valleys when rivers dry out. Main stream, Piaui, is affluent of the Parnaiba river. With one exception, there is no permanent river in the area. Piaul and affluents' dry beds suddenly transform in torrents in the rainy season. A small stream alone: Olho d'Agua da Cota, originating on the arenite chapada's, is permanent. Bare rock eroded reservoirs in the Cuesta, at cliff's bases under waterfalls and in cracks, store rain water in the dry season (caldeirao:"cooking pot"). Water is also stored within rare calcareous caves, granite depressions and in temporary lakes in the plain. Small dams on streams can store water for up to three years. Deep underground water is generally brackish or salty.