Midwest Region: Climate, Relief, Vegetation and Hydrography

According to IBGE, the Midwest region equivalent to 19% of the Brazilian territory, has more than 15 million inhabitants, when we relate the territorial extension with the population number, we can say that it is a sparsely populated region, it has 467 municipalities and states that make up the Central-West region of Brazil are:

state	capital
Goiás-GO	Goiania
Mato Grosso-MT	Cuiabá
Mato Grosso do Sul-MS	Large field
Brasília - Federal District (DF)

The main physical characteristics of the Midwest region are:

Climate of the Midwest Region

Before studying the existing climates in this part of the country, we must pay attention to the climatic factors that act in this region. The first factor is the latitude, as it is a region of low latitude, that is, because it is close to the Equator (0°) there tends to be climates with high temperature, the second climatic factor is it deals with continentality, which causes less rainfall, in relation to places close to the sea, and a large thermal amplitude (which consists of the difference between the maximum and minimum temperature). The third climate factor is the relief, the higher the relief altitude, the lower the temperature. The interaction between these climatic factors resulted in the predominance of three climates in the Midwest region:

• Equatorial climate: this climate occurs in the portion of this region that is located close to the Amazonian vegetation, the Note do Mato Grosso, which has as a characteristic high temperature and rainfall throughout the year.
• Tropical weather: occupies most of the Midwest region, occurs due to the influence of continentality, the main characteristic is the summer with higher rainfall and the dry winter.
• High altitude tropical climate: It occurs in the south of Rio Grande do Sul and in the southeast of Goiás, which are places with higher reliefs, consequently, the temperature tends to be lower than in the rest of the Center-West region.

Relief of the Midwest Region

According to Jurandyr Ross' classification, the main relief units are:

• Plateau: consists of an area where erosion occurs more frequently than sedimentation. There is the Planalto and Chapada unit of the Paraná Basin, also known as Chapada dos Guimarães, the relief unit Planaltos and Serras Goiás-Minas, has between 1000 and 1200 meters of altitude, due to the erosive process, the tops of the plateaus are flat, resembling a plateau, as in the case of the Chapada dos Deer. In the Residual Mountains of Alto Paraguai, the Serra das Araras and the Maciço do Urucum stand out. There are also the South Amazon Residual Plateaus and the Plateaus and Chapadas dos Parecis.
• Plain: is an area where sedimentation occurs more frequently than erosion. The main relief unit is the Plain and Pantanal Mato-Grossense, regionally the relief forms are known as bays (they are lakes, in shape circular, filled with brackish water), mountain ranges (elevations located between one bay and another) and ebb (located between a mountain range and other). The Plain of the Araguaia River (where Bananal Island is located) and the Plain and Pantanal of the Rio Guaporé also stand out.
• Depression: It consists of a lower relief than the surrounding area, due to the intense erosive process. Noteworthy are the relief units Cuiabana Depression, Araguaia Depression, Upper Paraguay-Guaporé Depression, South Amazon Marginal Depression, Tocantins Depression and Miranda Depression.

Vegetation of the Midwest Region

The interaction between climate, relief and soil in the Midwest region gave rise to the following plant formations:

Thick: consists of an intermediate vegetation between a field and a forest, due to its large extension it has a distinct physiognomy, ranging from small scattered shrubs to dry forests, the trees have twisted trunks, due to the acidity of the soil, the roots are deep, to be able to absorb water from the subsoil during the dry period.

This vegetation managed to adapt with the long period of drought, during the winter, it has more than 12 thousand plant species and approximately 11 thousand animal species.

Amazon rainforest: occurs in the North of Mato Grosso, formed by vegetation of large size, dense, with high temperature and rainfall, it has great animal and plant diversity. It is an extension of Amazonian vegetation in the Midwest region.

Pantanal: is located in the Pantanal plain region, the largest floodplain in the world, the characteristics of the vegetation change accordingly with the humidity of the place, when wet it assumed the characteristic of dense forest, when dry it has characteristics of the vegetation of the thick.

Tropical forest: It is the Atlantic Forest, which was present in a part of the states of Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul, it is a large vegetation. size, humid, with high rainfall (lower than in the Amazon region), dense, heterogeneous, with great animal diversity and vegetable.

All these vegetation described are targets of deforestation, the cerrado has suffered from arson fires, in addition to the removal of vegetation to occupy the soil with agriculture and livestock. The Atlantic Forest was practically extinct in the Midwest region.

See too:

• Northern region of Brazil
• Southeast region
• North region

Hydrography

The National Water Agency (ANA) classified 5 hydrographic regions in the Midwest region, among which the most outstanding are:

Amazon Hydrographic Region: As described above, the North of Mato Grosso borders the Amazon region, so the climatic characteristics, vegetation and hydrography are similar. In the North of Mato Grosso there are rivers that are tributaries of the Amazon, they are rivers of great extension and flowing.

Hydrographic Region of Paraguay: the main river is the Paraguay, which is important for the region's nature and also for navigation and product flow. This hydrographic region is not located entirely in Brazil, it is also found in Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina.

Tocantins-Araguaia Hydrographic Region: the main river is the Araguaia and its largest tributary is the Tocantins river, in this hydrographic region is located the largest fluvial island in the world, Ilha de Bananal.