Chapada Do Araripe: A Highland Oasis Incrusted into the Semi-arid Region of Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

Located inside the Brazilian northeast, the Chapada do Araripe represents a prominent testimony of the regional evolution extending as a residual relief in the form of flat and elongated tableland with over 8,000 km2 and an altitude close to 1,000 m, elevated up to 500 m from the Cariri Valley floor. Evolution by escarpment retreats influenced by gravitational processes developed piedmont deposits, marked by pediments and flat recessed areas, where urban centres have settled. Its sedimentary record includes Paleozoic and Mesozoic depositional sequences with exceptional fossil record. With high local rainfall and high permeability sandstones, the region is rich in water and lush natural vegetation and has a mild climate, characterised also as a regional centre of culture and economic development, begun in mid-eighteenth century and active to the present day. Those aspects that led the progress are assigned to miracles of Padre Cícero, patron saint of the region.