The Brazilian Highlands and plateaus generally average less than 4000 feet (1220 meters) but the highest point in Brazil is Pico de Neblina at 9888 feet (3014 meters). Extensive uplands lie in the southeast and drop off quickly at the Atlantic Coast . Much of the coast is composed of the Great Escarpment which looks like a wall from the ocean.

Brazil is totally within the South American Platform, Basement is of very complex geologic evolution, originating in the Archean period. The basement of the South American Platform is essentially on metamorphic rocks of amphibolite to granulite facies and granitoids of Archean age, associated with the Proterozoic units that are usually represented by folded strips of green schist facies and sedimentary and volcanic coverings (seldom metamorphosed) and several granitoids. That basement is widely exposed in great shields, separated from each other by fanerozoic coverings, whose limits extend to the neighbouring countries. Prominent are the shields of Guyana, Central Brazil and the Atlantic.

The Guyana shield extends to the north of the basin of "Amazonas". The Brazil-central, or Guaporé shield extends to the interior of Brazil and south of that basin, while the Atlantic shield is exposed in the eastern portion reaching the Atlantic. These shields are exposed in more than 50 percent of the area of Brazil. On that platform were developed in Brazil, in stable conditions of ortho-platform, starting from Ordovician-Silurian, the sedimentary and volcanic coverings that spatially filled three extensive basins with sineclisis character: "Amazonas", "Paraíba" and "Paraná". Besides those basins, several other smaller basins, including coastal basins and other sedimentary areas, are exposed on the platform.

The relief of Brazil is divided into two great plateau areas and three plain areas as follows:

Guyana Plateau, embracing the mountainous area and the Amazon North Plateau, in the extreme north of the country, it is an integral part of the shield of Guyana, presenting Precambrian crystalline rocks. This area includes the highest point in Brazil - the "Pico da Neblina", with an altitude of 3,014 m.
Brazilian plateau, subdivided into Central, "Maranhão-Piauí", North-eastern Brazil, mountains and plateau of the East and Southeast, Southern and "Uruguayan-Riograndense", is formed by quite worn crystalline lands and sedimentary basins. It is located in the central part of the country, and encompasses great areas of the national territory.
Plains and Amazon low lands, in the North of the country, below the Plateau of Guyana, present three different altimetrical levels - valleys, constituted by lands of recent formation near the margins of the rivers; fluvial terraces, with maximum altitudes of 30 m and periodically flooded; and low-plateaus, formed by lands of Tertiary age.
Plain of the "Pantanal", in the west of the state of "Mato Grosso" do Sul and Southwest of "Mato Grosso", are formed by lands of Quaternary age. Plains and coastal lowlands, along the coast from "Maranhão" to the south of the country, are formed by lands of the Tertiary and by current lands of the Quaternary.