Environmental signals recorded in modern sediments of tropical South American rivers

• Grant number: 19/24977-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): December 01, 2019
• Effective date (End): March 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Oceanography - Geological Oceanography
• Principal Investigator: Cristiano Mazur Chiessi
• Grantee: Dailson José Bertassoli Junior
• Host Institution: Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades (EACH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/15123-4 - Past perspectives on tipping elements of the climate system: the Amazon Rainforest and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (PPTEAM), AP.PFPMCG.JP2
• Associated scholarship(s): 21/15101-3 - Understanding lipid signals in modern sediments of tropical South American rivers, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

Archives like marine sediment cores register environmental conditions through proxies in an indirect way. Thus, the appropriate reconstruction of paleoenvironmental changes rely on understanding the relationship between the aimed original environmental signal and the analyzed proxy. Here we will (i) determine how environmental signals are recorded in modern fluvial sediments, and (ii) assess possible seasonal changes in environmental signals transported by fluvial sediments of the main tributaries of the Amazon River drainage basin. Our focus relies on determining the source of detrital sediments, the amount of rainfall and the main types of vegetation. Therefore, we will sample and analyze the following proxies in modern fluvial sediments from a carefully selected suite of fluvial stations from tropical South America: (i) neodymium isotopic composition of the detrital fraction (a proxy for the source of detrital sediments); and (ii) stable hydrogen and carbon isotopic composition of plant-wax-derived lipids (proxies for the amount of rainfall and the main types of vegetation, respectively). By doing this, we will provide an in-depth understanding about the way environmental signals are recorded in modern sediments and transported by tropical South American rivers, improving tropical South American paleoenvironmental reconstructions based on marine sediment cores. (AU)

Scientific publications

(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)

NIYONZIMA, P.; SAWAKUCHI, A. O.; BERTASSOLI JR, D. J.; PUPIM, F. N.; PORAT, N.; FREIRE, M. P.; GOES, A. M.; RODRIGUES, F. C. G.. Luminescence dating of quartz from ironstones of the Xingu River, Eastern Amazonia. QUATERNARY GEOCHRONOLOGY, v. 67, FEB 2022. (16/02656-9, 19/04059-6, 19/24349-9, 19/24977-0, 18/15123-4, 16/11141-2, 18/12472-8)

HAEGGI, C.; HOPMANS, E. C.; SCHEFUSS, E.; SAWAKUCHI, A. O.; SCHREUDER, L. T.; BERTASSOLI, D. J. JR JR; CHIESSI, C. M.; MULITZA, S.; SAWAKUCHI, H. O.; BAKER, P. A.; et al. Negligible Quantities of Particulate Low-Temperature Pyrogenic Carbon Reach the Atlantic Ocean via the Amazon River. GLOBAL BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES, v. 35, n. 9, SEP 2021. (19/24977-0, 16/02656-9, 19/24349-9, 18/23899-2, 18/15123-4, 11/06609-1)

BERTASSOLI, JR., DAILSON J.; SAWAKUCHI, HENRIQUE O.; DE ARAUJO, KLEITON R.; DE CAMARGO, MARCELO G. P.; ALEM, VICTOR A. T.; PEREIRA, TATIANA S.; KRUSCHE, V, ALEX; BASTVIKEN, DAVID; RICHEY, JEFFREY E.; SAWAKUCHI, ANDRE O.. How green can Amazon hydropower be? Net carbon emission from the largest hydropower plant in Amazonia. SCIENCE ADVANCES, v. 7, n. 26, JUN 2021. (19/24977-0, 18/18491-4, 16/02656-9, 19/24349-9, 11/14502-2, 14/21564-2, 15/09187-1, 18/15123-4, 16/11141-2)