The Gurguéia River is a river in Piauí

Piauí

Piauí is one of the states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country.Piauí has the shortest coastline of any of the non-landlocked Brazilian states at 66 km , and the capital, Teresina, is the only state capital in the north east to be located inland...

 state of northeastern Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. The Gurguéia is a tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 of the Parnaíba River

Parnaiba River

The Parnaíba River is a river in Brazil, which forms the border between the states of Maranhão and Piauí. The Parnaíba River rises in the Chapada das Mangabeiras range, and flows northeastward for 1,056 miles to empty into the Atlantic Ocean. The middle and upper regions of this river are...

, which originates in the Chapada das Mangabeiras

Chapada das Mangabeiras

The Chapada das Mangabeiras is a mountain range in central Brazil. The range runs northwest-southeast, and separates the basin of the Tocantins River to the southwest from the upper basin of the Parnaiba River to the northeast. The range also forms the boundary between Tocantins state and the...

 in the southern portion of the state, and flows north to join the Parnaíba. The Serra Uruçui separates the Gurguéia basin from the Uruçui-Preto basin to the west, and the Serra da Capivara separates the Gurguéia basin from that of the Piauí

Piauí River

-References:*...

 to the east.

The Cerrado

Cerrado

The Cerrado, is a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil, particularly in the states of Gioas and Minas Gerais...

 savannas occupy most of the Gurguéia basin, while several large enclaves of Atlantic dry forest lie east of the river, separating the Cerrado from the dry Caatinga

Caatinga

Caatinga is a type of vegetation, and an ecoregion characterized by this vegetation in the northeastern part of Brazil. The name "Caatinga" is a Tupi word meaning "white forest" or "white vegetation"...

shrublands further east.