Study of weathering and sedimentation rate by the Pb-210 method at Pardo River (SP) watershed

• Grant number: 21/11737-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: May 01, 2022
• End date: October 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Geophysics
• Principal Investigator: Daniel Marcos Bonotto
• Grantee: Daniel Marcos Bonotto
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas (IGCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant(s): 23/08278-0 - CONTRIBUTION OF THE HYDROGEOCHEMICAL APPROACH TO A SUSTAINABLE EXPLOITATION OF WATER RESOURCES: APPLICATION TO PARDO RIVER BASIN, SÃO PAULO STATE, BRAZIL, AP.R SPRINT

Abstract

The conservation of the quantity and quality of water depends on the natural and anthropic conditions of the hydrographic basins, from where it originates, circulates, percolates or is stored, either in the form of natural lakes or artificial reservoirs. Many techniques have contributed in recent decades to improve the knowledge of water/soil-rock interactions. It is in this context that they are included in studies carried out in Brazil and abroad using the natural radionuclides of the uranium series such as Pb-210, which has a half-life of about 22 years and has provided the assessment of physical weathering processes, sedimentation rates and historical evaluation of the contribution of contaminants to lakes, rivers and oceans in the last 150 years. This tool, together with the hydrochemical information, will be used in the Pardo River (SP) hydrographic basin, seeking to assess the current quality of surface water used for human consumption, as well as to determine possible changes due to anthropogenic inputs. The hydrographic basin is an ideal unit for research of this nature, as physical and chemical processes occur in it that shape the relief and condition the relationships between its biotic and abiotic components. The water constitutes a link between these components, because, after rainfall, it is directed to determined areas following its cycle, forming streams and rivers that run superficially or infiltrate in the sub-surface reservoirs, feeding the springs that will maintain the courses of water in the periods between precipitations. (AU)