The Unforeseeable Future of Brazil’s Hidden Gem

Chapada Diamantina’s tropical semi-humid, semi-arid landscape is home to karst topography containing underground rivers, systems of quartzite caves, mesas and rock formations bordering valleys, and majestic waterfalls spilling into crystal clear lakes. Such geographical features were crafted through millennia of folding, weathering and erosion.

Chapada Diamantina Karst Topography Created Through Weathering & Erosion

Using cross-cutting for strata depicts years of chemical weathering and erosion of rock by both oceanic and fresh-water river systems. Anticline folds shifted and shaped the aboveground anticlinal valleys. Subterranean groundwater and streams dissolved and continue to eat-away at sedimentary rock carving karst underground structures including caves and caverns. These processes continue to be a force in Chapada Diamantina’s landscape.

Chapada Diamantina Anticlinal Valley Created Through Folds

Chapada Diamantina 10,000 Years in the Future…

In ten thousand years Brazil’s Chapada Diamantina will be approximately 1km west of its current location. The South American Plate moves roughly 10cm west every year while the Nazca Plate moves about 16cm east each year. The South American and Nazca plates interact with a closing velocity of nearly 26cm per year. This phenomenon increases tectonic activity along the coast of South America. Although these tectonic plate movements seem significant, not much will be different in 10,000 years except Chapada Diamantina’s new GPS coordinates. Chapada Diamantina will sit less than a mile west than it does it today, resulting in much of the same annual rainfall and climatic patterns.

South American & Nazca Plate Movement

In 1,000,000 Years…

In one million years Chapada Diamantina will potentially experience more rainfall, slightly lower temperatures and more seismic activity. By this time period the South American plate will be 100km west and the Nazca Plate will be 16km east from current measure. Chapada Diamantina’s new location will be much more inland and receive about twice as much annual rainfall than currently recorded. In one million years this convergent boundary will produce many more earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Volcanic eruptions contribute to the Haze Effect, which basically lowers average global temperatures. This seismic activity will alter Chapada Diamantina’s current climate and produce slightly cooler temperatures.

Brazil's Average Annual Rainfall

 

The Haze Effect from Volcanic Eruptions

100,000,000 Years Later…

One-hundred million years from now Chapada Diamantina will change to a completely tropical landscape covered in island-like trees and sandy beaches. The South American Plate will be 10,000km west of current measure and Chapada Diamantina will have moved to what is now the South Pacific Ocean, just a few km south of Fatu Hiva of the Marquesas Islands. The elevation will be much lower and become a victim to the rising sea level. The divergent plate boundary from the South American Plate and African plate will have increased and created volcanic islands along the wider Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The African Plate moves 3.75cm east each year and in one-hundred million years it will be 3,750km east while the South American Plate is 10,000km west. Chapada Diamantina’s entire landscape and climate will be completely altered in 100,000,000 years.

South American & African Plate Divergence Along South Atlantic Ridge

 

Fatu Hiva in South Pacific Ocean

Chapada Diamantina’s landscape and climate will be completely different but equally as beautiful when weathering, erosion, and tectonic activity reshape its appearance. Nonetheless, Brazil’s hidden gem will remain an icon and a place to witness the features Earth’s geographical processes left behind.

Chapada Diamantina at Sunset

References:
http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/climate_effects.html
http://blank005.tripod.com/geology/tectonics.html
http://www.geo.mtu.edu/~hnlechne/volcanichazards.html
http://jersey.uoregon.edu/~mstrick/AskGeoMan/geoQuerry29.html