NATURAL CONDITIONS FOR THE SEA SALT PRODUCTION IN BRAZIL

ABSTRACT Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará stand out among the largest producers of sea salt in Brazil. The entire production of Rio Grande do Norte and much of the production of sea salt of Ceará come from a stretch of concave coastline in relation to the Atlantic called Concave Excerpt of semiarid Brazilian East Coast. This section presents climatic characteristics providing increased productivity to salt activity. This study presents data from the natural dynamic of constraints that influence the productive potential of a salt-development. After analysis, it was found that the areas of fluvial-marine plains of Mossoró and Açu rivers and tidal flat in Galinhos-Guamaré are those with the highest potential for production of sea salt in Brazil. The great vocation of these areas for the production of sea salt is due to the following factors: the soils are less permeable; the longshore transport of sediments and also the siltation of estuaries by the dunes are not important; natural water salinity is higher due to its greater confinement on the continent; and being larger the deposit of sediments of silt and clay fractions.