The soils of the
Atlantic
Rainforest /
(
Mata Atlântica)
and associated
ecosystems vary according to
topography and
geological origin and determine the vegetation & flora
which develops on it.
The coastal and inland mountain ranges of the Serra do Mar,
the isolated mountains and hills in the plains and the coastal islands were formed by volcanic processes
of a long time ago and are constituted by ancient crystalline rocks of the Pre-Cambrian period ( about 600 million
years ago). Intensively formed by erosive agents such as wind, water and strong temperature variations, which resulted
in a slow alteration and dissipation of these rocks, the elevations of the Serra do Mar were sculptured and
large quantities of sediments were deposited at the feet of the mountains.
Specifically those soils formed by terrestrial sedimentation gave rise to the typical vegetation
of the Dense Ombrophilous or Atlantic Rainforest.