Morphotectonics in the Central-East Region of South Brazil: Implications for Catchments of the Lava-Tudo and Pelotas Rivers, State of Santa Catarina Jéssica Miranda dos Santos a, ⁎, Eduardo Salamuni a , Clauzionor Lima da Silva b , Emerson Sanches a , Viviane Barbosa Gimenez a , Edenilson Roberto do Nascimento c a Department of Geology, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil b Department of Petrology and Geotectonic, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Seropédica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil c Department of Geography, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil abstract article info Article history: Received 4 May 2018 Received in revised form 17 December 2018 Accepted 17 December 2018 Available online 20 December 2018 The catchments of the Lava-Tudo and Pelotas rivers are located on the eastern edge of the Paraná Sedimentary Basin, central-east of the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. This region comprises Mesozoic volcanic rocks from the Paraná Large Igneous Province (LIP) deformed by Cenozoic joints and faults. Morphometric analysis carried out using remote sensing and structural data showed the influence of tectonics on the geomorphological frame- work of the target catchments, which therefore provided a morphological characterization of the area. Deforma- tion of the topography was determined from changes in topographic surface, drainage basin asymmetries, disturbances on longitudinal profiles and anomalies in drainage patterns associated with NE-SW and NW-SE faults derived from reactivation of the Proterozoic basement, as well as other neotectonically formed structures trending mainly N-S and E-W. The asymmetry recognized in the studied catchments results from tectonic tilting marked by oblique NE-SW faults. The deformation pulses resulted in the dismantlement of an extensive local Pa- leogene planation surface, also known as the Sul-Americana Surface. In the southeastern and southern regions of Brazil, morphotectonic evolution has been associated with tectonic pulses that took place between the Upper Cretaceous and Upper Pleistocene. © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Geomorphology Morphometry Tectonics Paleostress 1. Introduction Previous studies on Cenozoic tectonics in southern and southeastern Brazil have achieved significant advances in intraplate tectonic defor- mation. After the break-up of Gondwana, the uplift processes of Serra do Mar and the formation of tafrogenic basins from the Cenozoic Rift System (Almeida, 1976; Almeida and Carneiro, 1998; Riccomini et al., 2004; Zalán and Oliveira, 2005) acted as references for deformational intraplate dynamics in subsequent times. Ancient structures of the Ribeira Belt crystalline basement (Schmitt et al., 2004, Heilbron et al., 2010) orientated NE-SW were reactivated, forming a series of basins and grabens during the Eocene-Oligocene, extending for N900 km across the Brazilian states of Rio de Janeiro (Volta Redonda, Itaboraí and Macacu basins), São Paulo (Taubaté, Resende and São Paulo basins) and Paraná (Curitiba basin), according to Almeida and Carneiro (1998), Salamuni et al. (2003), Riccomini et al. (2004), Zalán and Oliveira (2005). Many studies have demonstrated the occurence of subsequent tectonic pulses in these basins since the Neogene, involving fundamen- tally strike-slip and distensive tectonic systems in South America intraplate context (Riccomini et al., 1991, 2004; Zalán and Oliveira, 2005; Salamuni et al., 2003, 2004; Franco et al., 2005; Chavez-Kus and Salamuni, 2008; Mazzer and Gonçalvez, 2011; Machado et al., 2012; Nascimento et al., 2013; Jacques et al., 2014, 2015; Nummer et al., 2014; Peyerl et al., 2018). These tectonic features have been correlated, at least during the Holocene, to stresses that originated from seismolog- ical activity, which refers to a tectonic activity similar to typical areas of tectonic activity (Riccomini and Assumpção, 1999; Salamuni et al., 2004; Assumpção et al., 2006; Assumpção et al., 2016). However, in southern Brazil these studies still lack understanding in terms of activation of tectonic regimes, orientation of paleostress axis and their relations with the development of regional topography, due, in part, to the difficulty in identifying time limits for the events, caused by the absence of expressive Cenozoic sedimentary basins to serve as references. This happens in parts of southeastern Brazil, with thick soil covering, dominance of erosive processes and incision in mountainous areas and homogeneous distribution of lithotypes within the Large Ig- neous Province of the Paraná Basin (LIP) leading to restricted occur- rences of rocks from the crystalline basement and Paraná Sedimentary Basin in Santa Catarina state, Brazil. Additionally to such regional limita- tions, recent studies show a significative brittle tectonic framework af- fecting basaltic rocks of Serra Geral formation, alkaline rocks from Geomorphology 328 (2019) 138–156 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: mirandas.jessica@gmail.com (J.M. Santos). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2018.12.016 0169-555X/© 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Geomorphology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/geomorph