Comparative analysis of modern fluvial systems and the rock record: outcrop-scale analogue modelling for the palaeoenvironmental interpretation of fluvial deposits

• Grant number: 14/13937-3
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): November 01, 2014
• Effective date (End): May 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Geology
• Cooperation agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Mario Luis Assine
• Grantee: Maurício Guerreiro Martinho dos Santos
• Home Institution: Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas (IGCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project aims to develop depositional models for different preserved fluvial fan systems on the rock record through highly-detailed studies of the preserved sedimentary facies and architectural elements on recent and modern-day fluvial fan systems from the Pantanal wetlands in western Brazil. The motivation of this project is to understand the relationship between the reserved depositional architecture and the associated climatic and tectonic settings. Preserved channel planform patterns distribution will be analyzed through remotely sensed imagery examined in a GIS platform, and the preserved depositional architecture and associated sedimentary facies associations will be investigated through multiple-scale, integrated analyses of outcrop-scale studies and ground-penetrating radar data. The recent and Pleistocene deposits of the Taquari and Cuiabá megafans will be studied, with particular interest on the interaction of these two systems and the axially-drained, trunk river system of the Paraguai River. Two- and three-dimensional models will be produced in various scales. Results will be compared with highly-detailed, outcrop-scale data from interpreted megafan fluvial deposits in the rock record, in order to provide palaeoenvironmental parameters for continental sedimentary deposits. At least two of such fluvial deposits will be analyzed and compared with the Pantanal fluvial systems: the Guarda Velha Formation (Cambrian, southern Brazil), and the Applecross Formation of the Torridon Group (Tonian, NW Scotland). The Guarda Velha Formation will be investigated through ground-penetrating radar techniques, generating profiles which will be further compared with previous studies on such deposits by the candidate. The Applecross Formation (Torridonian) will be investigated through the depositional architecture and sedimentary facies analyses and previous sedimentary studies by the candidate on the area. The integrated analyses these recent and ancient fluvial systems will provide novel parameters for the palaeoenvironmental interpretations of the continental rock record. These results can potentially contribute to the significant gaps between modern-day fluvial sedimentology and the study of the rock record of fluvial deposits, an ongoing debate among the sedimentological community. (AU)

Scientific publications

(6)

(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)

SANTOS, MAURICIO G. M.; HARTLEY, ADRIAN J.; MOUNTNEY, NIGEL P.; PEAKALL, JEFF; OWEN, AMANDA; MERINO, EDER R.; ASSINE, MARIO L. Meandering rivers in modern desert basins: Implications for channel planform controls and prevegetation rivers. SEDIMENTARY GEOLOGY, v. 385, p. 1-14, MAY 1 2019. Web of Science Citations: 3.

OWEN, AMANDA; HARTLEY, ADRIAN J.; EBINGHAUS, ALENA; WEISSMANN, GARY S.; SANTOS, MAURICIO G. M. Basin-scale predictive models of alluvial architecture: Constraints from the Palaeocene-Eocene, Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, USA. SEDIMENTOLOGY, v. 66, n. 2, p. 736-763, FEB 2019. Web of Science Citations: 1.

OWEN, AMANDA; EBINGHAUS, ALENA; HARTLEY, ADRIAN J.; SANTOS, MAURICIO G. M.; WEISSMANN, GARY S. Multi-scale classification of fluvial architecture: An example from the Palaeocene-Eocene Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. SEDIMENTOLOGY, v. 64, n. 6, p. 1572-1596, OCT 2017. Web of Science Citations: 8.

SANTOS, MAURICIO G. M.; MOUNTNEY, NIGEL P.; PEAKALL, JEFF. Tectonic and environmental controls on Palaeozoic fluvial environments: reassessing the impacts of early land plants on sedimentation. JOURNAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, v. 174, n. 3, p. 393-404, MAY 2017. Web of Science Citations: 11.

SANTOS, MAURICIO G. M.; OWEN, GERAINT. Heterolithic meandering-channel deposits from the Neoproterozoic of NW Scotland: Implications for palaeogeographic reconstructions of Precambrian sedimentary environments. Precambrian Research, v. 272, p. 226-243, JAN 2016. Web of Science Citations: 17.

ASSINE, MARIO LUIS; MERINO, EDER RENATO; PUPIM, FABIANO DO NASCIMENTO; MACEDO, HUDSON DE AZEVEDO; MARTINHO DOS SANTOS, MAURICIO GUERREIRO. The Quaternary alluvial systems tract of the Pantanal Basin, Brazil. BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY, v. 45, n. 3, p. 475-489, SEP 2015. Web of Science Citations: 16.