The Parque da Cascata (meaning Waterfall Park 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 ...

) is the popular name of Parque Florestal Municipal de Sete Lagoas located at Serra Santa Helena, just 3 km (2 mi) from downtown

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 Horizon ...

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 ...

. It was created by decree on 27 September 1977.

Caves and geology

The gorge of the waterfall in the Parque da Cascata is in fact the collapsed part of a

Karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

. Although the Parque da Cascata is easy to reach by car, the actual gorge is hard to reach. The gorge starts with a waterfall and the best way to enter the gorge is following an erosion gully (because the vegetation is inhabited by dangerous snakes, spiders, scorpions etc.!). Following the brook one sees a number of horizontal

stalactite A stalactite (, ; from the Greek 'stalaktos' ('dripping') via ''stalassein'' ('to drip') is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble an ...

s and

stalagmite A stalagmite (, ; from the Greek , from , "dropping, trickling") is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites are typically ...

s that clearly demonstrates that part of the cave has collapsed. Further down, the brook enters another system of caves with more stalactites and stalagmites. Unfortunately, vandalists have destroyed a number of them. The place where the brook wells out of the Serra Santa Helena is a place for practices of the

Macumba ''Makumba'' () is a term that has been used to describe various religions of the African diaspora found in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. It is sometimes considered by non-practitioners to be a form of witchcraft or black magic. The ...

religion. 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 Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...

is called the Sete Lagoas Formation. It is in this limestone that the Lagoa Santa

was developed. The area around

has many caves, of which the

Gruta Rei do Mato 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, in Minas Gerais, Brazil. From Sete Lagoas the cave can easily be reached by bus, taxi or car. Sete Lagoas is fr ...

is the most famous one.

References

External links

Parque da Cascata on the homepage of the Lago Palace Hotel – Picture of the waterfall
Landforms of Minas Gerais Caves of Minas Gerais Wild caves Limestone caves Waterfalls of Brazil Protected areas of Minas Gerais {{Brazil-protected-area-stub

Caves and geology

See also

References

External links