Compartimentação geomorfológica e processos deposicionais no megaleque fluvial do rio São Lourenço, Pantanal mato-grossense

The Pantanal wetland is an extensive depositional tract characterized by the presence of fluvial megafans, from which that of the Taquari River is the most extensive and well known. Located on the northern border of the Pantanal, the São Lourenço megafan is a large distributary fluvial system with an area of 16,000 km2, but poorly known regarding its geomorphological and geological features. The Sao Lourenço and the Taquari are coalescent megafans, having the Piquiri interfan meander river in between them. Based on the interpretation of satellite images and field validation, it was possible to identify channel patterns, to interpret depositional and erosional processes, to recognize the phenomena of river avulsion and to map depositional lobes. Three geomorphological zones were recognized on the São Lourenço megafan: 1) abandoned depositional lobes located in the upper/intermediate fan, composed of Pleistocene fluvial deposits and exhibiting distributary paleochannels on their surfaces, which are currently being dissected by tributary channels; 2) an active Holocene confined meander belt formed by fluvial aggradation in a N65E incised-valley; 3) active depositional lobes placed on the distal part of the system, which are the main site of sedimentation and are characterized by frequent avulsion events, channel bifurcation, distributary drainage pattern and the presence of depositional lobated landforms. The active depositional lobes were formed due to an important event of river avulsion that caused the lower portion of the meander belt to be abandoned.

Morfologia do relevo da porção sul do megaleque fluvial do Taquari, Pantanal da Nhecolândia, Brasil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Compartimentação geomorfológica e processos deposicionais no megaleque fluvial do rio São Lourenço, Pantanal mato-grossense

A planície sedimentar do Pantanal é um extenso trato deposicional moderno, no qual megaleques fluviais são as feições que mais se destacam, sendo o do rio Taquari o maior e mais conhecido. Também notável é o megaleque do rio São Lourenço, que, apesar de possuir área de cerca de 16.000 km², é ainda pouco conhecido nos seus aspectos geológicos e geomorfológicos. Situado na borda noroeste do Pantanal, o megaleque do São Lourenço coalesce com o do Taquari, sendo dele separado pela planície fluvial interleque do rio Piquiri. Com base na interpretação de dados orbitais e na sua validação em campo, foi possível identificar padrões de canais, interpretar processos sedimentares, reconhecer fenômenos de avulsão fluvial e delinear lobos deposicionais. Foram reconhecidos três compartimentos geomorfológicos no megaleque do São Lourenço: 1) lobos deposicionais abandonados indiferenciados, situados na porção proximal/média do megaleque e constituídos por sedimentos pleistocênicos depositados por paleocanais distributários, atualmente em dissecação por canais tributários; 2) cinturão de meandros de idade holocênica, limitado por terraços marginais e resultado de agradação fluvial em vale inciso, cuja direção está condicionada por estruturas N65E; 3) lobos deposicionais ativos, situados na porção distal do megaleque e principal área de sedimentação do sistema deposicional, caracterizados por frequentes eventos de avulsão, bifurcações do canal, padrão de drenagem distributária e presença de lóbulos deposicionais. Os lobos deposicionais ativos foram formados a partir de importante evento de avulsão fluvial, que culminou com o abandono da porção inferior do cinturão de meandros.

Geomorfologia fluvial, mudanças ambientais e evolução do megaleque do Rio São Lourenço, quaternário do pantanal mato-grossense

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Mudanças morfológicas na evolução do megaleque do Taquari: uma análise com base em dados orbitais

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Evolução geomorfológica e mudanças ambientais no megaleque do Nabileque, quaternário do Pantanal mato-grossense

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Geomorfologia do megaleque do Rio Paraguai, quaternário do pantanal mato-grossense, centro-oeste do Brasil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Geocronologia de formas deposicionais e evolução da planície interleques do Rio Negro, quartenário da Bacia do Pantanal

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

O rio Paraguai no megaleque do Nabileque, sudoeste do Pantanal mato-grossense, MS

The Nabileque fluvial fan is a Quaternary depositional system located along the southwestern border of the Pantanal, covering an area of approximately 9,100 km 2. It is a peculiar alluvial system because it is not associated with inflow from adjacent plateaus. The Nabileque megafan is formed by the Paraguay River at the exit of the Pantanal wetland, coalescing with the Pilcomayo megafan of the Chaco basin. A geomorphological zonation analysis was performed making use of remote sensing data with field verification. Most of the area is a vast alluvial plain made of Pleistocene deposits, whose surface is marked by the presence of an intricate network of distributary paleochannels. Areas blanketed by Pleistocene deposits are dissected by erosional streams and subject to frequent flooding events. The Paraguay River flows in a meander belt constrained by NE fractures associated with the Transbrasiliano Lineament, but deflects towards the SSE after the Negro River confluence composing the system's peripheral drainage. An abandoned meander belt is preserved within a remarkable N-S incised-valley that is interpreted as the ancient Paraguay River course. Processes of avulsion and river capture are suggested to explain the observed changes of the river course. The Nabileque River is an underfit stream within the incised-valley, cutting paleomeanders and point bars of the previous Paraguay River course.

OSL age determinations of Pleistocene fluvial deposits in Central Amazonia

Absolute dating methods have been used in chronological studies of geological processes and sedimentary units of Quaternary age in Central Amazonia, Brazil. Although radiocarbon dating has been very useful in archaeological research and soil studies, the temporal interval of this method is inefficient in evaluating the sedimentation aspects and geological events from the beginning of the Quaternary in the Amazon basin. The use of crystal luminescence dating has been one of the most promising tool for determining the absolute dating of Quaternary deposits in the Amazonian region. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, following the MAR and SAR protocols, in a tectonic-sedimentary study of Quaternary fluvial deposits in the confluence area of the Negro and Solimões rivers, indicated ages from 1.3 (Holocene) to about 67.4 kyears (Late Pleistocene) for these sediments. Low radioactive isotope concentrations were found about 2ppm for 235U and 238U; 5ppm for 232Th; and the 40K concentrations were almost zero. A comparison was made between MAR and SAR protocols taking into account the fluvial depositional process.

Gaseous and fluvial carbon export from an Amazon forest watershed

The transfer of carbon (C) from Amazon forests to aquatic ecosystems as CO(2) supersaturated in groundwater that outgases to the atmosphere after it reaches small streams has been postulated to be an important component of terrestrial ecosystem C budgets. We measured C losses as soil respiration and methane (CH(4)) flux, direct CO(2) and CH(4) fluxes from the stream surface and fluvial export of dissolved inorganic C (DIC), dissolved organic C (DOC), and particulate C over an annual hydrologic cycle from a 1,319-ha forested Amazon perennial first-order headwater watershed at Tanguro Ranch in the southern Amazon state of Mato Grosso. Stream pCO(2) concentrations ranged from 6,491 to 14,976 mu atm and directly-measured stream CO(2) outgassing flux was 5,994 +/- A 677 g C m(-2) y(-1) of stream surface. Stream pCH(4) concentrations ranged from 291 to 438 mu atm and measured stream CH(4) outgassing flux was 987 +/- A 221 g C m(-2) y(-1). Despite high flux rates from the stream surface, the small area of stream itself (970 m(2), or 0.007% of watershed area) led to small directly-measured annual fluxes of CO(2) (0.44 +/- A 0.05 g C m(2) y(-1)) and CH(4) (0.07 +/- A 0.02 g C m(2) y(-1)) per unit watershed land area. Measured fluvial export of DIC (0.78 +/- A 0.04 g C m(-2) y(-1)), DOC (0.16 +/- A 0.03 g C m(-2) y(-1)) and coarse plus fine particulate C (0.001 +/- A 0.001 g C m(-2) y(-1)) per unit watershed land area were also small. However, stream discharge accounted for only 12% of the modeled annual watershed water output because deep groundwater flows dominated total runoff from the watershed. When C in this bypassing groundwater was included, total watershed export was 10.83 g C m(-2) y(-1) as CO(2) outgassing, 11.29 g C m(-2) y(-1) as fluvial DIC and 0.64 g C m(-2) y(-1) as fluvial DOC. Outgassing fluxes were somewhat lower than the 40-50 g C m(-2) y(-1) reported from other Amazon watersheds and may result in part from lower annual rainfall at Tanguro. Total stream-associated gaseous C losses were two orders of magnitude less than soil respiration (696 +/- A 147 g C m(-2) y(-1)), but total losses of C transported by water comprised up to about 20% of the +/- A 150 g C m(-2) (+/- 1.5 Mg C ha(-1)) that is exchanged annually across Amazon tropical forest canopies.

Fossil trees in ancient fluvial channel deposits: evidence of seasonal and longer-term climatic variability

It has been established that large numbers of certain trees can survive in the beds of rivers of northeastern Australia where a strongly seasonal distribution of precipitation causes extreme variations in flow on both a yearly and longer-term basis. In these rivers, minimal flow occurs throughout much of any year and for periods of up to several years, allowing the trees to become established and to adapt their form in order to facilitate their survival in environments that experience periodic inundation by fast-flowing, debris-laden water. Such trees (notably paperbark trees of the angiosperm genus Melaleuca) adopt a reclined to prostrate, downstream-trailing habit, have a multiple-stemmed form, modified crown with weeping foliage, development of thick, spongy bark, anchoring of roots into firm to lithified substrates beneath the channel floor, root regeneration, and develop in flow-parallel, linear groves. Individuals from within flow-parallel, linear groves are preserved in situ within the alluvial deposit of the river following burial and death. Four examples of in situ tree fossils within alluvial channel deposits in the Permian of eastern Australia demonstrate that specialised riverbed plant communities also existed at times in the geological past. These examples, from the Lower Permian Carmila Beds, Upper Permian Moranbah Coal Measures and Baralaba Coal Measures of central Queensland and the Upper Permian Newcastle Coal Measures of central New South Wales, show several of the characteristics of trees described from modern rivers in northeastern Australia, including preservation in closely-spaced groups. These properties, together with independent sedimentological evidence, suggest that the Permian trees were adapted to an environment affected by highly variable runoff, albeit in a more temperate climatic situation than the modem Australian examples. It is proposed that occurrences of fossil trees preserved in situ within alluvial channel deposits may be diagnostic of environments controlled by seasonal and longer-term variability in fluvial runoff, and hence may have value in interpreting aspects of palaeoclimate from ancient alluvial successions. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Acompanhamento da construção e remodelação da estação fluvial do Terreiro do Paço

O trabalho que se segue reporta as actividades resultantes da experiência em obra ao serviço da firma Interpaço A.C.E., durante um período de quatro meses. A esta empresa foi adjudicada a seguinte empreitada: “Execução dos Toscos, Acabamentos, Baixa Tensão, Telecomunicações e AVAC do Novo Terminal Fluvial, No Interface do Terreiro do Paço sito em Lisboa”. O objectivo principal foi o de adquirir conhecimentos nas várias áreas de execução de uma obra desta natureza: Área de Projecto, Produção, Preparação, Técnico/Comercial e Orçamentação. Adquiriram-se igualmente conhecimentos na área de gestão de consórcios e das subempreitadas, como seja a interacção e coordenação entre os diversos departamentos e organismos que integram o mesmo. O estágio consistiu principalmente no acompanhamento do Director de Obra nos vários processos de construção, na verificação da conformidade da execução destes processos, de acordo com planeamento efectuado, na verificação do registo de recepção dos diversos materiais, no contacto com os diversos intervenientes no processo construtivo e na elaboração de detalhes construtivos. Foram obtidas diversas competências nas seguintes áreas: Projecto, onde se ganharam noções básicas da leitura e interpretação deste, complementando-o com as informações fornecidas pelo caderno de encargos e memória descritiva; Encomenda e Recepção de Materiais, onde se adquiriu um conhecimento relevante do mercado disponível, tendo em conta igualmente futuros empreendimentos; Elaboração de Autos, onde se compreenderam as relações entre a Empresa Construtora, Subempreiteiros e Dono de Obra; Trabalhos de Preparação, onde se percebeu a importância de planear com antecedência todos os passos da execução dos trabalhos.

Transição do enchimento terciário para o encaixe fluvial quaternário na área de Vila Velha de Ródão (sector NE da Bacia do Baixo Tejo)

The geomorphologic characteristics and lithostratigraphic units of the transition from the Tertiary filling stage to the Quaternary fluvial incision in the Vila Velha de Ródão area (Lower Tagus Basin, NE sector) are presented. Several morphodynamic episodes, which had an important tectonic control, were distinguished. The same main morphosedimentary processes can be identified in other areas of this important river basin. Five periods of Quaternary fluvial incision were characterized.

Stochastic simulation of the morphology of fluvial sand channels reservoirs

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Geológica (Georrecursos)