Amid a patchwork of fields, towns, and winding rivers and roads in central Brazil stands a monolithic oval-shaped plateau. This conspicuous feature, the Serra de Caldas (also known as the Caldas Novas dome and Caldas Ridge), is perched about 300 meters (1,000 feet) above the surrounding landscape in the state of Goiás.
NASA/Wanmei Liang; Landsat data: USGS
On May 19, 2025, Landsat 9 captured this image of the Serra de Caldas in the state of Goiás, Brazil. The oval plateau is covered by a biologically rich savanna and grassland ecosystem called Cerrado. The Cerrado covers about one-fifth of Brazil’s land area and represents the second-largest biome in South America behind the Amazon. These lands are home to thousands of plant, bird, reptile, and mammal species, many of which are found nowhere else on the planet.
Learn more about this area sometimes referred to as the “cradle of waters.”
Text credit: Lindsey Doermann
Image credit: NASA/Wanmei Liang; Landsat data: USGS