According to the Doce River Basin Committee (CBH-Doce), it belongs to the Southeast Atlantic hydrographic region, has a drainage area of 86,175 square kilometers and covers all or part of 229 municipalities.

It is formed from the confluence of the Piranga and Carmo rivers between the municipalities of Ponte Nova, Rio Doce and Santa Cruz do Escalvado, in the state of Minas Gerais.

The terrain and the coastline are detrimental to the action of polar air and prevent the maintenance of low average temperatures (less than 18 °C) in the coldest month of the year at most altitudes below 300 meters.

[6] The lower altitude areas, which include a large part of Espírito Santo and the valley bottoms formed by the course of the Doce River, have the highest temperatures and lowest average rainfall, ranging from 1,000 to 1,200 millimeters a year.

To the south, where forest plateaus dominate, summers are cool and the climate is designated as Cwb, as occurs in Viçosa, Ponte Nova and part of Caratinga.

The course traces a lowland area called the Doce River interplateau depression, with average altitudes in its interior ranging from 250 to 500 meters on hills of medium slope.

[7][8][9] The dissected plateaus of south-central and eastern Minas Gerais occupy around 70% of the basin's area and have an undulating relief, including landforms such as ridges, valleys and hills.

Latosols, registered from flat to mountainous terrain, are drained, dystrophic and alkalic (with a high concentration of aluminum), and formed mainly from gneissic and magmatic rocks, schists and sandy-clay deposits.