Inferior Precambrian
The city of Cataguases located in the Zone of Mata of the state of Minas Gerais. With area of 482 km, is composed for the districts of Aracati of Mines, Cataguarino, Glory of Cataguases, Night watchman and Glad Sight. It has the cities of Leopoldina, Itamarati of Mines, Euzbia Owner, Guidoval, Mira, Santana de Cataguases and Orange grove as bordering. (to see annex 2) In terms of local Geology, according to Secretariat of Agriculture of Minas Gerais (1975) the rocks of the region of Cataguases are dated of the Inferior Precambrian and are part of the Paraba Group. Gnaisses and rocks predominate metassedimentares, with some degrees of metamorfismo, igneous rocks, mainly granites, lodes of quartz and pegmatito. On these rocks of the crystalline complex one meets a quaternary little thick covering and alluviums tertiary.
…. The orogenia that affected the Paraba Rocks resulted in an intense metamorfismo of the rocks, dobramentos and characteristic falhamentos of the region. Morfoestruturalmente, the region of Cataguases is part of ' ' Domain of Crystalline plateaus Rebaixados' ' , corresponding to the region lowest, situated between the Mantiqueira and the Valley of the River Paraba of the South, with predominance of dobramentos of general direction SW-NE. The shaped one is predominantly formed by hills policonvexas, of rounded off sources, that form stocking-oranges or mameles, of changeable altitudes and that they bind the flat valleys deep. The set of hills mamelonares forms the landscape of ' ' Seas of Morros' '. In them, the biticos and chemical processes, through the decomposition, formed a thick mantle of alteration, characteristic of pedognese tropical. In the sources, especially in the parts lowest, latossolo predominates red-yellow, whereas in the fertile valley occurs alone hidromrfico of dark coloration. In the topos and the sources litossolo of red-yellow coloration still occurs. With an environment sufficiently degraded by the process of not planned urban occupation and by the type of use of the ground, water the River Dove deserves prominence for the fact of if configuring with one of the sub-basins of the River Paraba of the South, beyond the brooks in prominence to be its tributaries.