Using cosmogenic nuclides to invewstigate changes in paleo-erosion rates in the Western Amazon during the last 10 Ma

• Grant number: 25/11995-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: October 01, 2025
• End date: September 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Geology
• Principal Investigator: Fabiano do Nascimento Pupim
• Grantee: Carolina Barbosa Leite da Cruz
• Supervisor: Bodo Bookhagen
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências (IGC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Potsdam, Germany
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/16031-4 - Paleoerosion rates and sediment flux along the Amazon fluvial system in response to Andean tectonism and regional climate regimes during the late Neogene and Pleistocene, BP.DR

Abstract

The uplift of the Andes has been recognized as a key driver of South American climatic regime and changes in the lowland Amazonian landscapes, which were directly or indirectly crucial to Amazonia becoming the most diverse continental ecosystem on Earth. However, the timing, rates, and mechanisms that link the recent growth of the Andes to regional climate and physical landscape changes in the Amazonian lowlands remain poorly understood. Thus, the original doctoral project aim to investigate the spatiotemporal trends of erosion rates and sediment flux from the Andes to the Amazonian lowlands during last 10 Ma, through terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides (TCN) and luminescence methods. In this context, we present this Research Internships Abroad (BEPE) project during which the TCN analysis will be performed. We will use in situ cosmogenic nuclides (10Be and 26Al) to (i) extend the age range of the sedimentary deposits up to the late Miocene and (ii) investigate how paleo-erosion erosion rates responded to tectonic and climate changes through time and space. TCN results will allow us to understand the climate changes and mountain building events on sediment flux to the Andes across Amazonian lowlands and how these erosion and provenance signals propagate along the Amazon fluvial system.