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The Colônia Impact Crater: Geological Heritage and Natural Patrimony in the Southern Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, Brazil

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Abstract

The Parelheiros district, located at the extreme southern end of the São Paulo metropolitan region, is historically famous for the occurrence of an unusual circular depression, denominated in the geological literature as Colônia Crater. This prominent geomorphological structure, with a 3.6-km diameter, formed by impact cratering, represents one of the few records of a violent and devastating geological process that shaped the Earth’s surface in the past. The crater lies within an environmental protection area and displays a remarkable landscape, as well as a rich and singular fauna and flora. With a wide geological and biological diversity, the Colônia impact crater is an extraordinary natural heritage and must be rigorously preserved to: (a) conserve its exceptional natural wealth in order to provide continuity to various scientific researches, (b) implement suitable land use and occupation programmes to maintain the crater as an environmental preservation area and (c) encourage the local community’s participation in the development of sustainable tourism in the region.

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Acknowledgments

We are particularly grateful to Sebastião Carmo Silva for his excellent technical assistance during the execution of the fieldwork. Fruitful grammatical revision and the helpful comments given by Dr. Vagner Maringolo improved substantially this paper. We extend our thanks to the anonymous reviewers for constructive comments. A. E. M. Sallun and W. Sallun Filho are researchers with Productivity Grants of CNPq, Brazil. This study has been supported by the FAPESP foundation, Proc. No. 2006/59046-6, 2011/50987-0, 2011/22597-0 and 2012/50042-9.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Arlindo Béttio, 1000, Ermelino Matarazzo, São Paulo, 02838-000, Brazil

    Victor F. Velázquez, Julianna Colonna & Paulo C. A. Paiva Jr.

  2. Secretaria de Estado do Meio Ambiente, Instituto Geológico, Av. Miguel Estefano, 3900, São Paulo, São Paulo, 04301-903, Brazil

    Alethéa E. Martins Sallun, José Maria Azevedo Sobrinho & William Sallun Filho

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  1. Victor F. Velázquez
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  2. Julianna Colonna
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  3. Alethéa E. Martins Sallun
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  4. José Maria Azevedo Sobrinho
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  5. William Sallun Filho
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  6. Paulo C. A. Paiva Jr.
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Correspondence to Victor F. Velázquez.

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Velázquez, V.F., Colonna, J., Sallun, A.E.M. et al. The Colônia Impact Crater: Geological Heritage and Natural Patrimony in the Southern Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, Brazil. Geoheritage 6, 283–290 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12371-014-0121-0

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