Location: Federal District Map
Area: 30,000 ha
Brasília National Park is a protected area situated 10 km
from the center of Brasília (capital of Brazil) in the Federal District in Brazil. It covers an area of 30,000 ha.
During the gold cycle, the extractions made in the Pirenópolis
region, in Goiás, were transported to the coast of Bahia passing
through the region where the park is today. There, there was the
"count", which gave name to the chapada existing in the place.
The creation of the park, on November 29, 1961, is directly
related to the construction of Brasilia. Agreement with the Ministry
of Agriculture allowed Novacap to maintain a nursery for
afforestation of the new capital, in part of the future park area.
Attractions
The main attraction of the park is the pools
formed from water wells, which appeared on the banks of the Camp
Stream by the extraction of sand made before the creation of
Brasilia. The park also has two trails in the internal area,
Capivara, lasting about 20 minutes, and Cristal Água, lasting about
1 hour.
Climate
The predominant climate of the region,
according to the Köppen classification, is "Savannah tropical", with
the concentration of rainfall in summer. The rainy season begins in
October and ends in April, representing 84% of the annual total. The
wettest quarter is from November to January, with December being the
highest rainfall of the year. The dry season runs from May to
September, with precipitation in the driest quarter (June / July /
August) representing only 2% of the annual total. In terms of annual
totals, the average annual rainfall in the Federal District varies
between 1 200 and 1 700 mm.
Relative humidity drops from more
than 70% at the beginning of the drought to less than 20% at the end
of the period. Coinciding with the warmer period, in August and
September, humidity can reach 12%, typical desert dryness (FERRANTE
et al, 2001).
Although the climate of the Federal District is
classified as tropical, people's thermal perception depends on the
combination of different climatic elements such as temperature,
relative humidity, vapor pressure, ventilation and solar radiation.
Thus, low humidity in the dry season, combined with prolonged
exposure to the sun, causes a feeling of discomfort. However, this
discomfort is attenuated by exposure to winds (FERRANTE et al,
2001).
The climate of the Federal District is represented by
three units, according to Köppen: Aw, Cwa, Cwb. (FEDERAL DISTRICT
ATLAS, 1984).
The Aw unit has a monthly temperature of over
18 ° C. This unit is not registered within the Brasilia National
Park, as it is located at an altitude of over 1,000 meters.
The climate of the CWa regime is conditioned to the temperature of
the coldest month, below 18 ° C and the warmest month, with an
average above 22 ° C. This temperature regime occurs in almost the
entire portion of Brasilia National Park with altitudes below 1,200
m.
The climate for the CWb unit has a temperature of the
coldest month below 18 ° C and the warmest month, with average below
22 ° C. This unit corresponds to the highest portions of the Federal
District. The park area is located in Chapada da Contagem, all along
the north and west of the current conservation unit.
Hydrography
The hydrography of the study area is formed by
streams that are born in contact with the plateau of Contagem with
the Paranoá Depression. The streams in the Brasilia National Park
are tributaries of the Paranoá River. According to Novaes Pinto
(1986), the hydrographic network in relation to the Paranoá Semidome
presents an annular pattern. Locally, these watercourses have a
normally parallel east-west pattern with slight south-east curvature
toward Lake Paranoá. In the steeper portions, where shallow soils
such as Cambisols are located, the drainage networks are denser
especially in the escarpment unit. This is because the shallow soils
have low infiltration capacity and quickly saturate providing
surface runoff, which forms the ravines. In some humid points of
Brasilia National Park there are small lagoons that can be seen in
satellite images. The main sub-basins of the Brasília National Park
are the Bananal Stream and the Torto Stream, which has the Santa
Maria Stream as its main tributary. This stream feeds the dam of the
same name and occupies the largest basin area in the park. In the
elevated portions, there are the Tres Barras streams and the
Tortinho stream, which bathes a large part of the National Park.