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A JOURNEY INTO THE LAND OF BRAZILIAN QUARTZ Francesco Sauro Having explored and studied quartzite caves in Venezuela, Brazilian Amazonia, the Urals and India, for a great many years I had been dreaming of visiting the quartzite areas of Central Brazil, between the states of Minas Gerais and Bahia. Almost all of the quartz crystals and amethyst crystals found in the world’s museums come from this area, and the potential presence of caves in a metamorphic quartzite as ancient and rich in crystallisations as this one had set my pulse racing. Several years ago, I began to correspond regularly with Augusto Auler, a geologist and speleologist from the Bambuì group in Belo Horizonte, with which La Venta organised the 2015 expedition to the Sierra do Aracà. Although we had never had the chance to meet in person, in 2018 we decided to work together on the chapter entitled “Quartzite and quartz sandstone caves of South America” for the new edition of the Encyclopedia of Caves, edited by William White and David Culver. To this end, Augusto began to provide me with information and photographs on the wonders of the Chapada Diamantina and the Serra do Espinhaço, and then at last we received the news that in the Ibitipoca State Park, the cavers of Rio de Janeiro were exploring a quartzite cave that was now mapped to more than seven kilometres. Augusto invited us on a trip through all these mountains: a quartzite cave per day for two weeks, across 2500 kilometres. It was a one-off opportunity that had to be grasped, and all in all, it was also an enticing holiday for Daniela and I, since we had never visited this part of Brazil. But a journey of this sort must be documented at all costs, and so we brought Alessio Romeo on board to shoot all of the breathtaking places that we would have the good fortune to see first-hand. La Chapada Diamantina
We begin our “tour” of the largest quartzite caves in Brazil from the city of Salvador de Bahia. As guests of Fabio and Cristina, Italo-Brazilian speleologist friends, we prepare for Augusto’s arrival by savouring a few days at the seaside. Augusto then flies in from Belo Horizonte, and after touching-down he collects a pick-up truck laid on by his company, the Insituto do Carste. From Salvador,
Gallery in the friable crystalline quartzites in one of the numerous caves of the Parque Estadual do Ibitipoca in the state of Minas Gerais
