Reconstruction of the extreme precipitation events variability based on high-resolution analyses (´ 18 O, ´ 13 C and trace elements) in speleothems from Lage Branca and Malfazido cave in Southeast of Brazil.

• Grant number: 19/23364-4
• Support type: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Effective date (Start): January 16, 2020
• Effective date (End): March 19, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences
• Principal Investigator: Francisco William da Cruz Junior
• Grantee: Julio Cauhy Rodrigues
• Supervisor abroad: R Lawrence Edwards
• Home Institution: Instituto de Geociências (IGC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Local de pesquisa : University of Minnesota (U of M), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 19/02791-1 - Study on the variability of extreme rain events based on geochemistry high relosulion analysis (d18O e d13C and trace elements) in speleothems, BP.MS

Abstract

Extreme precipitation events represent the major source of risk associated to theinterannual variability in the regions of tropical climate and have been becomingincreasingly frequent and intense in modern times. In Brazil, around 74% of deathsrelated to natural disasters are associated with events of extreme rainfall. Facing therecent hydroclimatic changes in South America, is has become necessary tocomprehend how the variability in climatic conditions interferes with the frequency andmagnitude of these events. However, due to limited instrumental data record,reconstructing the hydroclimate history has been difficult, which brings the focus ontopaleoclimate records based on high-resolution proxies (´ 18 O and trace elements) fromspeleothems, once extreme rainfall events can cause subsurface flooding, leading thecaves in particular to become a promising domain for the reconstruction of paleofloodactivities. Therefore, the current research plan has the goal to understand how paleofloods correlate to extreme paleoclimatic changes during late Holocene (~2thousand years) over Southeast Brazil.To better understand how the climate forcings can influence in the frequency of extremeprecipitation events, records of speleothems from the last millennium and from theHolocene are being developed for the southeast of Brazil. Those records will allow us tounderstand how the frequency of those events are related with others climatic factorsand forcings.