The Gruta Rei do Mato (MG-3653) is a cave located at the edge of the BR-040 highway, close to the off ramp to the city of
Sete Lagoas
Sete Lagoas (meaning 'Seven Lagoons' in Portuguese) is a city in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The municipal area is 537;km² while the population was 241,835 in 2020.
Location
Sete Lagoas is situated about 70 kilometres from Belo Horizo ...
, in
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. From Sete Lagoas the cave can easily be reached by bus, taxi or car. Sete Lagoas is from
Belo Horizonte, the capital of the state.
Name
Gruta Rei do Mato means "Cave of the Forest King" in
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
. The name divides into ''Gruta'' (cave) and ''Rei do Mato'' (Forest King). According to several local sources, the "Rei do Mato" was a fugitive in either the Gruta Rei do Mato or another cave in the vicinity. According to the authors of ''Dona Brasil'', he lived in a hut near the grotto.
Geology
The
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
area north of
Belo Horizonte is called the Sete Lagoas Formation, in which the Lagoa Santa
Karst developed. The area around
Sete Lagoas
Sete Lagoas (meaning 'Seven Lagoons' in Portuguese) is a city in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The municipal area is 537;km² while the population was 241,835 in 2020.
Location
Sete Lagoas is situated about 70 kilometres from Belo Horizo ...
has many cave systems, of which the Gruta Rei do Mato is the most widely known. The cave has four large chambers with numerous
stalactites,
stalagmites and rimstone dams. In the "Rarities Hall" are nearly identical parallel columns, formed by the calcium carbonate crystals of
calcite. These columns are more than high and in diameter.
In the nearby
Parque da Cascata is a collapsed karst crater which can be recognised by some stalactites that are oriented horizontally as a result of the collapse. In a small cave next to the Gruta Rei do Mato, 4,000 to 6,000 year old
cave paintings
In archaeology, Cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric origin, and the oldest known are more than 40,000 y ...
were discovered, as well as skeletal remains of the ''
Xenorhinotherium
''Xenorhinotherium'' is an extinct genus of macraucheniine macraucheniids, closely related to '' Macrauchenia'' of Patagonia. The type species is ''X. bahiense''.[Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...]
mammal. A replica of this animal can be found in the cave.
See also
*
List of caves in Brazil
This is the List of caves in Brasil with links displayed alphabetically.
Caves in Brazil
References
Parks
* Parque da Cascata
* Chapada Diamantina National Park
See also
*List of caves
*Speleology
{{Authority control
Brazil
Caves
...
References
External links
DonaBrasil.com on Gruta Rei do Mato
Limestone caves
Show caves in Brazil
Tourist attractions in Minas Gerais
Caves of Minas Gerais
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