Raso da Catarina

Raso da Catarina
Raso da Catarina
Raso da Catarina (Brazil) Location in Brazil
Ecology
Biome	Caatinga
Geography
Country	Brazil
State	Bahia, Pernambuco
Coordinates	9°45′47″S 38°31′27″W / 9.762937°S 38.524086°W / -9.762937; -38.524086Coordinates: 9°45′47″S 38°31′27″W / 9.762937°S 38.524086°W / -9.762937; -38.524086

The Raso da Catarina is an ecoregion in the caatinga biome of Bahia and Pernambuco, Brazil. It is a sandstone plateau, much eroded, that is extremely dry for most of the year. Vegetation includes low bushes, often thorny, cacti and bromeliads.

The core of the Raso da Caterina roughly corresponds to a rectangle bounded by the São Francisco River to the north, BR-110 to the east, Vaza-Barris River to the south and BR-116 to the west. It contains the communities of Cocorobó in the southwest and Paulo Afonso in the northeast, and holds the Serra Branca in the south. It has an area of about 5,000 square kilometres (1,900 sq mi), and covers parts of the municipalities of Paulo Afonso, Jeremoabo, Canudos and Macururé. The core Raso da Caterina is a sandstone plateau that dates back to the Cretaceous. The landscape has many canyons and rocks carved by erosion into huge obelisks.

In a broader sense the Raso da Catarina Ecoregion comprises portions of the states of Pernambuco and Bahia in a long and narrow north-south strip in the central-eastern part of the biome. It covers 30,800 square kilometres (11,900 sq mi) defined by the natural geomorphological limits of the Tucano-Jatoba sedimentary basin. It has deep soils, excessively drained, acidic and very low fertility. In Bahia it includes parts of the municipalities of Canudos, Cícero Dantas, Chorrochó, Euclides da Cunha, Glória, Jeremoabo, Macururé, Paulo Afonso, Ribeira do Pombal, Rodelas, Santa Brígida and Uauá.