Geochemical evidence of environmental changes during the quaternary in the Montain range of the southern Espinhaço, Minas Gerais

• Grant number: 12/00676-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: July 01, 2012
• End date: April 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Soil Science
• Principal Investigator: Pablo Vidal Torrado
• Grantee: Ingrid Horák Terra
• Supervisor: Antonio Martínez Cortizas
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago (USC), Spain

Abstract

Determination and understanding of the reasons that create certain specific characteristics recorded in organic soils enable to explain the environmental dynamic during their genesis. Soil weathering process, deposition of atmospheric dust, vegetation changing and trophic state can be inferred by analysis of geochemical elements determined in peatlands. Their concentrations reflect if levels are from natural bottom (background), derived from anthropic activities (enrichment factors), or natural catastrophic events. So, the aims of the research project are: A) to determine and characterize the geochemistry (major and minor elements, lithogenic trace elements, metallic trace elements, halogen, and As and Se elements preserved in soil organic matter) of peatlands from Espinhaço Meridional Mountain Range in order to infer on environmental changes (natural or anthropic); b) to correlate bioindicators (pollen grain, fern spores, bryophytes, fungi and chlorococcales algae) and geoindicators (C isotopes - 14C e 13C; N isotopes - 15N) determined in Brazil with geochemical elements (major and minor elements, lithogenic traces, metallic traces, halogen, and Se and As) determined in Spain as well as all data acquired in field work in order to interpret the evolution of this environment since its genesis regarding the main modifying processes and factors (natural and/or anthropic). For this, four peatlands were chosen: Pau-de-fruta (PF), Sempre-Viva (SV) and São João da Chapada (SJC). Analysis of elements contained in soil samples from peatland will be proceeded each 2 cm by X-Ray fluorescence (Energy-dispersive Miniprobe Multielement Analyzer/ FRX EMMA) and vacuum detection X-ray. Statistical techniques such as Factorial Analysis by Principal Components (PC), Correlation Analysis (CA), Association by Hierarchical Analysis of (HCA), and Correspondence Analysis (DCA) will be used for exploration of information contained in biotic and abiotic records. These techniques will be employed in analysis of the geochemical data together with isotopic, physical, chemical and morphological data of the peatlands. (AU)

Scientific publications

(8)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

PEREZ-RODRIGUEZ, MARTA; HORAK-TERRA, INGRID; RODRIGUEZ-LADO, LUIS; ABOAL, JESUS R.; MARTINEZ CORTIZAS, ANTONIO. Long-Term (similar to 57 ka) Controls on Mercury Accumulation in the Souther Hemisphere Reconstructed Using a Peat Record from Pinheiro Mire (Minas Gerais, Brazil). Environmental Science & Technology, v. 49, n. 3, p. 1356-1364, FEB 3 2015. (12/00676-1)

HORAK-TERRA, INGRID; MARTINEZ CORTIZAS, ANTONIO; PINTO DA LUZ, CYNTHIA FERNANDES; LOPEZ, PEDRO RIVAS; SILVA, ALEXANDRE CHRISTOFARO; VIDAL-TORRADO, PABLO. Holocene climate change in central-eastern Brazil reconstructed using pollen and geochemical records of Pau de Fruta mire (Serra do Espinhaco Meridional, Minas Gerais). PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY, v. 437, p. 117-131, NOV 1 2015. (12/00676-1)

HORAK-TERRA, INGRID; MARTINEZ CORTIZAS, ANTONIO; DE CAMARGO, PLINIO B.; SILVA, ALEXANDRE C.; VIDAL-TORRADO, PABLO. Characterization of properties and main processes related to the genesis and evolution of tropical mountain mires from Serra do Espinhaco Meridional, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Geoderma, v. 232, p. 183-197, NOV 2014. (12/00676-1)

HORAK-TERRA, INGRID; MARTINEZ CORTIZAS, ANTONIO; PINTO DA LUZ, CYNTHIA FERNANDES; SILVA, ALEXANDRE CHRISTOFARO; MIGHALL, TIM; DE CAMARGO, PLINIO BARBOSA; MENDONCA-FILHO, CARLOS VICTOR; DE OLIVEIRA, PAULO EDUARDO; CRUZ, FRANCISCO WILLIAN; VIDAL-TORRADO, PABLO. Late Quaternary vegetation and climate dynamics in central-eastern Brazil: insights from a similar to 35k cal a bp peat record in the Cerrado biome. JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, v. 35, n. 5, MAY 2020. (12/00676-1)

MONTES, M. L.; HORAK-TERRA, I.; MERCADER, R. C.; SILVA, A. C.; ERRICO, L. A.; TAYLOR, M. A.. Inventories, profiles and deposition fluxes of Pb-210(ex) in mineral and organic (peatlands) Southern Hemisphere soils. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, v. 124, p. 8-pg., 2023-03-08. (12/00676-1)

MARTINEZ CORTIZAS, ANTONIO; HORAK-TERRA, INGRID; PEREZ-RODRIGUEZ, MARTA; BINDLER, RICHARD; COOKE, COLIN A.; KYLANDER, MALIN. Structural equation modeling of long-term controls on mercury and bromine accumulation in Pinheiro mire (Minas Gerais, Brazil). Science of The Total Environment, v. 757, FEB 25 2021. (12/00676-1)

PINTO DA LUZ, CYNTHIA FERNANDES; HORAK-TERRA, INGRID; SILVA, ALEXANDRE CHRISTOFARO; MENDONCA FILHO, CARLOS VICTOR; VIDAL-TORRADO, PABLO. POLLEN RECORD OF A TROPICAL PEATLAND (PAU DE FRUTA) FROM THE SERRA DO ESPINHACO MERIDIONAL, DIAMANTINA, STATE OF MINAS GERAIS - ANGIOSPERMS EUDICOTYLEDONS. Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia, v. 20, n. 1, p. 3-22, JAN-APR 2017. (12/00676-1)

SILVA, ALEXANDRE CHRISTOFARO; HORAK-TERRA, INGRID; BARRAL, UIDEMAR MORAIS; COSTA, CAMILA RODRIGUES; GONCALVES, SABRINA THAMYRES; PINTO, THIAGO; CHRISTOFARO SILVA, BARBARA PEREIRA; CUNHA FERNANDES, JOSE SEBASTIAO; MENDONCA FILHO, CARLOS VICTOR; VIDAL-TORRADO, PABLO. Altitude, vegetation, paleoclimate, and radiocarbon age of the basal layer of peatlands of the Serra do Espinhaco Meridional, Brazil. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, v. 103, p. 9-pg., 2020-11-01. (12/00676-1)