The Borborema Plateau ( Portuguese ''Planalto da Borborema'', also known as the ''Serra da Borborema'') is a plateau in northeastern

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

which extends across the states of

Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...

Paraíba Paraíba ( , ; ) is a states of Brazil, state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba i ...

, and

Rio Grande do Norte Rio Grande do Norte (, , ) is one of the states of Brazil. It is located in the northeastern region of the country, forming the northeasternmost tip of the South American continent. The name literally translates as "Great Northern River", refe ...

. The plateau is the northeasternmost portion of the Brazilian Highlands and is the most relevant watershed of its region. It ranges approximately from north to south and from east to west. More than 100 rivers originate from the plateau, including the Moxotó,

Mundaú Mundaú is a village in the municipality of Trairi in the state of Ceará. It is located 130 or so kilometres from the state capital Fortaleza. Nature Most of Mundaú's original vegetation is still intact. The east and south of the village cont ...

, Pajeú, Paraíba do Norte, Seridó, and Una. The Borborema Plateau serves as an orographic barrier, despite its relatively low elevation, against the moist easterly winds of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. Areas west of the plateau, which make up part of the sertão, are arid and prone to drought. The Pajeú River, the largest tributary of the

São Francisco River The São Francisco River (, ) is a large Rivers of Brazil, river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil (after the Amazon R ...

, originates from the Borborema.

Geology

The Borborema Plateau is part of a huge anastomosing shear zone. The plateau is composed primarily of

igneous Igneous rock ( ), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The magma can be derived from partial ...

and

metamorphic Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causi ...

rock.

References

Mountain ranges of Brazil {{RioGrandedoNorte-geo-stub