Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Overview of the Brazilian caatinga

1995; Cambridge University Press; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/cbo9780511753398.003

Everardo Valadares de Sá Barretto Sampaio,

Soil erosion and sediment transport

The dry forest and scrub vegetation in Brazil, generally called 'caatinga', covers an estimated area of 6–9 × 105 km2 in the northeastern region. It is conditioned by the prevailing semiarid climate, with high potential evapotranspiration throughout the year (1500–2000 mm y−1) and low rainfall (300–1000 mm y−1), which is usually concentrated in 3–5 months and is very erratic (Reddy, 1983). Drought years are common and severe droughts lasting 3–5 years have occurred every 3–4 decades.