O paleodeserto de Xique-Xique

Abstract

Almost half century after identifying the Xique-Xique dune field in the lower middle valley of the São Francisco river, the author takes up the subject again both as scientific disclosure and as a warning for federal and state authorities in Brazil. Using recent satellite images of the region, he identifies the dangerous environment of progressive dilapidation that the paleo dune field is subject to. One already finds lesions the north side of these fragile regional dunes and extensive improper use of the small valleys that crisscross the Quaternary paleodesert (later Pleistocene). There is also a progressive irradiation of trilbos e anastomosadas de bode on the chine of higher dunes, fixed by homogeneous creeping vegetation (psammous biome) and an enlargement of the western boundary of the dune field (from the piedmont of the Estreito mountain range), not to mention other ongoing lesions, which may confute the alleged revitalization of the São Francisco river.