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SIGEP Geological and Paleontological Sites of Brazil SIGEP 107 Lago Azul Cave, Bonito, State of Mato Grosso do Sul Where the sunshine turns blue Paulo Cesar Boggiani1 William Sallun Filho3 Ivo Karmann1,2 Ana Lúcia Gesicki4 Nicoletta Moracchioli Philadelphi5 Marcos Philadelphi 5 1 Departamento de Geologia Sedimentar e Ambiental – Instituto de Geociências, USP – Rua do Lago, 562, 05508-900 São Paulo – SP, [email protected] 2 [email protected] 3 Instituto Geológico, Secretaria do Meio Ambiente do Estado de São Paulo – Av. Miguel Stefano 3900, 04301-903 São Paulo – SP, [email protected] 4 DNPM – Departamento Nacional da Produção Mineral – São Paulo - Rua Loefgren, 2225, CEP 04040-033 – São Paulo – SP, [email protected] 5 Neotrópica, [email protected] © Boggiani,P.C.; Sallun Filho,W.;Karmann,I.; Gesicki,A.L.;Philadelphi,N.M.; Philadelphi,M. 2008. Lago Azul Cave, Bonito, State of Mato Grosso do Sul - Where the sunshine turns blue. In: Winge,M.; Schobbenhaus,C.; Souza,C.R.G.; Fernandes,A.C.S.; Berbert-Born,M.; Queiroz,E.T.; (Edit.) Sítios Geológicos e Paleontológicos do Brasil. Available on line since 23/02/2008 at the address: http://www.unb.br/ig/sigep/sitio107/sitio107english.pdf [actually http://sigep.cprm.gov.br/sitio107/sitio107english.pdf ] (The above bibliographic reference of author copy right is required for any use of this article in any media, being forbidden the use for any commercial purpose) Lago Azul Cave, Bonito, State of Mato Grosso do Sul Where the sunshine turns blue SIGEP 107 Paulo Cesar Boggiani1 William Sallun Filho3 Ivo Karmann1,2 Ana Lúcia Gesicki4 Nicoletta Moracchioli Philadelphi5 Marcos Philadelphi 5 The Gruta do Lago Azul (Blue Lake Cave), located at the Bonito municipality, Mato Grosso do Sul State, is developed in carbonate rocks of the Corumbá Group (Ediacaran) in the Serra da Bodoquena geomorphological context. Along the September to February, the sunlight penetrates the wide chamber, going down 150 meters from the surface, to the subterranean lake, turning the colour of the water intensely blue, what is the motivation for the site’s name. At the floor of the subterranean lake occur bones of pleistocenic mammals and the cave is also important due to the presence of nesquehonite speleothems. This cave and the neighboring Nossa Senhora Aparecida Cave are considered national heritage and a formal conservation unit of the Mato Grosso do Sul state is concerned by the Monumeto Natural Gruta do Lago Azul (Blue Lake Cave Nature Monument), a conservation unit of the Mato Grosso do Sul State. The Lago Azul Cave is one of the most important touristic attraction of the region with touristic guides prepared to geoscience education. Keywords: Lago Azul Cave, Planalto da Bodoquena, Bonito, Mato Grosso do Sul State INTRODUCTION special to geological and geomorphological features, created in 2001, in the areas where the two declared The Lago Azul Cave (Blue Lake Cave) is one of national heritage are found, and by the the most important caves in Brazil and the one of the implementation of the measures and internal and mainly natural touristic attractions of the state of external infrastructure established in the “Plano de Mato Grosso do Sul, with emphasis on the Manejo Espeleológico” (Speleological Management underground lake that acquires an intense blue color Plan), submitted to IBAMA in February 2002 and during the period of the day that it is exposed to rays approved in 2008. By initiative of IPHAN (brazilian of sunlight (Fig. 1). The exceptional value was the heritage institute) the area has been proposed as reason for been declared as a heritage site by the geopark. “Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional - IPHAN” (National Historical and Artistic LOCATION Heritage Institute), together with the Nossa Senhora Aparecida Cave situated in the vicinity. The Lago Azul Cave is located to the west of the Besides its exceptional underground view, the town of Bonito, between the Anhumas creek to the Lago Azul Cave is noted for its fossils of Pleistocene North and the Taquaral cave to the south, at mammals (Salles et al., 2006) and the occurrence of coordinates 56°35’26.53”W and 21°08’40.79”S. From rare minerals (e.g., nesquehonite), in the form of the town of Bonito (Fig. 2), it is possible to access the fragile agglomerates and by the occurrence of endemic site after 19 km on an unpaved road (Fig 2). crustaceans that inhabit the underground lake. Bonito can be accessed by taking a paved highway The cave is easily accessed with great potential for from Campo Grande (state capital), following the geotourism activities, partly achieved by tourism route that comprises Campo Grande – Sidrolândia – guides to relatively intense tourist flow (44,786 visitors Guia Lopes da Laguna – Bonito cities, totaling 280 in 2003 according to the “Secretaria de Turismo de km. It is also possible to access the town of Bonito by Bonito” (Secretariat of Tourism of Bonito Town). regular bus service and the there is an International The cave have a big entrance to the outside, allows Airport, although this is currently restricted to charter natural light, it has been possible to implement low flights. Given that it is a tourist town, Bonito has environmental impact, wich comes to be refined innumerous travel agencies, hotels and professional through implementation of the “Monumento Natural services in the form of tourist guides (around 50 Gruta do Lago Azul” (Blue Lake Cave Nature registers guide by the Brazilian Tourism Minister). Monument), a kind of brazilian conservation unit 1 ___________________________________________________________Geological and Paleontological Sites of Brazil Figure 1 – General view of the Gruta do Lago Azul (Blue Lake Cave - Bonito, MS), wich subway lake becomes blue under the incidence of sunlight. Phtotography of J. Sabino Figure 02 – Location and access of Lago Azul Cave. HISTORICAL ASPECTS guides that the cave was originally discovered by a Terena Indian in 1924. Furthermore, there are no The Lago Azul and the Nossa Senhora Aparecida written records of such a discovery, which is currently caves were frequently visited by the local population considered to be a legend rather than a proven in the past, around 1940, given that these locations historical fact. were easily accessed and situated near the town of The first scientific publication of the caves was of Bonito. the Mendes (1957). In this study, the Lago Azul and There is no factual basis for the information Nossa Senhora Aparecida were identified as Fazenda frequently disclosed in the press and by some tourist Anhumas and Fazenda Três Irmãos caves, ___________________________________________________________Geological and Paleontological Sites of Brazil respectively. Worthy of note is the fact that, at that caves that had become national heritage sites, the time, the lake at the bottom of the Lago Azul Cave main result of this project was that the zoning type of was considered to be relatively shallow, with a depth use of the caves in question and proposing the type of one to two meters, and actually this lake has more of infrastructure to be installed to visit. Based on this than 90 m deeper. The Nossa Sra. Aparecida has no proposal, a trail constructed inside the Lago Azul lake. cave, using blocks of limestone joined with cement, According to Lino et al. (1984), tourist visits were with the proposal to facility the movement within the only initiated in 1970, through the efforts of Hélio cave, while maintaining a minimal visual impact. Loureiro, as municipal secretary, and tourist guide During performance of this project, other caves were Sérgio Ferreira Gonzáles, more widely known as explored and mapped, including that known as “Sérgio da Gruta”. “Abismo Anhumas”, situated in the vicinity of the Still in 1970, studies with a view to making use of Lago Azul Cave. water, as mineral water, of the lake at the botton of The Lago Azul Cave and its potential in terms of the Lago Azul cave were performed by the “Empresa natural beauty came to be more widely known due to Turística do Mato Grosso - TURIMAT” (State of the “Expedição Franco-Brasileira BONITO/92” Mato Grosso Tourism Company) – in that time, the (Franco-Brazilian BONITO/92 Expedition) in state were not divided yet as two states, the Mato September 1992, organized by the Grupo Bambuí de Grosso, the north part, and Mato Grosso do Sul at Pesquisas Espeleológicas (Bambuí Speleological south part. After the idea of extracting mineral water Research Group). During this expedition, at the was abandoned, in 1978, a study performed by Prof. bottom of the lake in the Lago Azul cave, mammals Ronaldo Teixeira of the Universidade Federal de Pleistocenic fossils were discovered. The part of the Minas Gerais – UFMG (Federal University of Minas bones corresponding to the giant sleeping and saber- Gerais) resulted in the proposal entitled “Programa toothed tigers, probably represented by genus para utilização de um turismo científico-cultural na Eremotherium and Smilodon, identified by Prof. Castor área sudeste do Estado de Mato Grosso” (Program Cartelle using subaquatic images. for implementation of scientific-cultural tourism in the southeastern area of the state of Mato Grosso), put forward by members of the Secretaria de Indústria e Comércio de Mato Grosso (State of Mato Grosso Industry and Commerce Department), with the involvement of EMBRATUR (National Tourism Institute). A request for declareted of the two caves as national heritage sites was made by the Secretary of State, Mr. David Balaniue, this process being approved by the Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional – IPHAN (National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute) and ratified by the Ministry of Education and Culture on 13/10/1978 (process no 979-T-1978). In April 1982, the two caves were acquired by the Figure 3 – View from the floor of the subterranean lake of Empresa de Turismo de Mato Grosso do Sul - Lago Azul cave whith pleistocenic mammals fossils MSTUR (Mato Grosso do Sul Tourism Company) of (photography by Ismael Escote).