The Brazilian Highlands or Brazilian Plateau are an extensive geographical

Geography

Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...

 region, covering most of the eastern, southern and central portions of Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, in all approximately half of the country's land area, or some 4,500,000 km² (1,930,511 sq mi). In addition, the vast majority of Brazil's population (190.755.799 2010 census) lives in the highlands or on the narrow coastal region immediately adjacent to it.

Ancient basalt

Basalt

Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...

ic lava

Lava

Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...

 flows gave birth to much of the region. However, the time of dramatic geophysical

Geophysics

Geophysics is the physics of the Earth and its environment in space; also the study of the Earth using quantitative physical methods. The term geophysics sometimes refers only to the geological applications: Earth's shape; its gravitational and magnetic fields; its internal structure and...

 activity is long past, as there is now no seismic

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

 or volcanic

Volcano

2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...

 activity. Erosion

Erosion

Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...

 has also played a large part in shaping the Highlands, forming extensive sedimentary deposits and wearing down the mountains.

The Brazilian Highlands are notable for the great diversity to be found there: within the region there are several different biomes, vastly different climatic

Climate

Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...

 conditions, many types of soil

Soil

Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...

, and thousands of animal and plant species.

Major divisions

Due to their size and diversity, the Brazilian Highlands are usually divided into three main areas:

• Atlantic Plateau, extending all along the eastern coast of Brazil, and including several mountain ranges. It was once almost completely covered by the Atlantic Rainforest, one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world, of which only 7.3% remains.
• Southern Plateau, advancing inland in the southern and southern-central portions of the country. Sedimentary rocks covered partially by basaltic lava spills that form the fertile ground known as "purple land". Large portions of this region were also covered by the Atlantic Rainforest, while araucaria highland forest and cerrado
  Cerrado
  The Cerrado, is a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil, particularly in the states of Gioas and Minas Gerais...
  
   grasslands took up much of the rest.
• Central Plateau, occupying the central portions of Brazil, with sedimentary and crystalline formations. Approximately 85% was once covered by cerrado vegetation, of which only a small portion remains intact.

In addition to the plateau regions, several adjoining or enclosed mountain ranges are considered to be part of the Brazilian Highlands. Some of the most important are (from north to south):

• Serra da Borborema
• Chapada Diamantina
  Chapada Diamantina National Park
  The Chapada Diamantina National Park is a 1,520 km² national park in the Chapada Diamantina region of Bahia state in the Northeast of Brazil...
  
  
• Serra do Espinhaço
• Serra do Caparaó
• Serra da Mantiqueira
• Serra do Mar
  Serra do Mar
  Serra do Mar is a 1,500 km long system of mountain ranges and escarpments in Southeastern Brazil, which runs in parallel to the Atlantic Ocean coast from the state of Espírito Santo to southern Santa Catarina, although some include Serra Geral in the Serra do Mar, in which case this range...
  
  
• Serra Geral
  Serra Geral
  The Serra Geral is a mountain range in southern Brazil, constituting the southern portion of the Serra do Mar system which runs along Brazil's southeastern coast. The Serra Geral runs parallel to the Atlantic coast in Santa Catarina and northern Rio Grande do Sul states, separating a narrow coastal...
  
  

The highest point of the Brazilian Highlands is the Pico da Bandeira

Pico da Bandeira

Pico da Bandeira is the third highest mountain in Brazil, situated near the border of Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais. It is the highest point in both states as well. It was historically considered the highest mountain in Brazil until the 1950s, when the Pico da Neblina was explored and measured...

 in the Serra do Caparaó, which stands at 2,891 meters (9,485 ft).

See also

• Guiana Shield
• Serras de Sudeste
  Serras de Sudeste
  The Serras de Sudeste Microregion is a micro-region in the southern part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It is named after a hill range named Serras de Sudeste, which means Southeastern Mountain Ranges...