Doce

Course

The Doce River is formed by the junction of the Piranga and the Carmo near the historical city of Ouro Preto, whose sources are located in the foothills of the Mantiqueira and Espinhaço mountain chains at altitudes of about 1,200 m (3,937 ft). It flows in a northeastern direction via Ipatinga, makes a wide curve near Governador Valadares, and flows in a southeastern direction passing through Conselheiro Pena, to enter the Atlantic Ocean near Linhares in Espírito Santo state. Its main tributaries are the Piracicaba, Casca, Matipó, Caratinga-Cuieté, Manhuaçu, Santo Antônio and Suaçuí Grande, in Minas Gerais; the Pancas, Guandu, and São José, in Espírito Santo.

Part of the river basin is contained in the 3,562 hectares (8,800 acres) Augusto Ruschi Biological Reserve, a fully protected area.

History

The Doce River basin has rocks dated to the Eoarchean and the Proterozoic, which go back to the earliest ages of the Earth. The river, through the transport of sediments, contributed to shaping the relief of this region over time. It was also in this way that the diversity of lagoons that are part of the basin was formed. However, northern Espírito Santo, including the lower Doce River, only formed from the silting up of the Atlantic Ocean in the Cenozoic. The watercourse contributed to this silting due to the displacement of sediments, forming the surface beneath the present municipality of Linhares throughout the Pleistocene and the Holocene.

Known human presence on the banks of the Doce River is relatively late.

Ecology and environment

At the same time that the area covered by native forest is broken up into isolated non-devastated patches, the Doce River and its tributaries are heavily affected by pollution generated by waste arising from the activities of local industries, urban sewage, rampant deforestation, mining, and excessive manipulation of its waters. Industrial and urban contamination, associated with the absence of environmental control, made the Doce River the tenth most polluted river in Brazil according to the Social Development Index (IDS) calculated by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in 2011, therefore even before the dam collapse in Mariana in 2015. In 2014, the basin was identified as the most degraded in Minas Gerais.

Climate

Tropical with altitude climate with summer rains and cool summers, present on the slopes of the Mantiqueira and the Espinhaço Mountains and at the sources of the Doce river.

Tropical with altitude climate with summer rains and hot summers, present at the sources of its tributaries.

Hot climate with summer rains, present in the middle and lower sections of the Doce and its tributaries.