Quaternary tectonics in Brazil

Abstract

The concept of tectonic stability has long prevailed for most of the Brazilian platform and, because of this fact, investigation of Quaternary tectonics in Brazil has begun to develop only during the last decade. From the two pioneer groups at the end of the eighties, there are now active groups studying neotectonics in almost all regions of Brazil. A clear demonstration of this progress is the fact that during the 7th Brazilian Symposium on Tectonic Studies, held in Lençóis, Bahia, in May, 1999, of the 141 papers presented more than 20% were related to neotectonics. References to faulting and other geologic features directly related to Quaternary tectonics are increasing and now available for many areas in Brazil. In this paper the geological record of Quaternary tectonics in Brazil is reviewed and a comparison with available geophysical data on stress orientations is presented.