REVIEW OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE BRAZILIAN ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS: UNKNOWNS THAT STILL REMAIN

Abstract

This paper attempts to outline the current state o knowledge on the importance of the Brazilian Atlantic Plateau, through an extensive review of the literature on studies conducted since the 1930s to the present day. In this review, it is possible to observe the development of a true school of Brazilian geoscientific thought. Firstly, there is a line of erosive geomorphological models with tectonic implications. Secondly, it is possible to find another strain with morphoclimatic approach based on Quaternary climate change. Thirdly, there is a sequence of research that is not primarily geomorphological, but whose focus is mainly associated with tectonic geomorphic elements. And lastly, there are studies highlighting the formation through geochemical processes and even the geomorphic features of planed surfaces built up between the major compartments of regional reliefs (Serra do Mar and Mantiqueira). The conclusion is that none of these lines alone is able to fully explain the geomorphic genesis of the Plateau, remaining unknowns that challenge old approaches. New questions arise and old ones persist, across period to period and school to school.