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Insect trace fossils as indicators of climatic conditions during the uppermost Pleistocene deposits in southern Brazilian Atlantic coast

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2022

Kimberly Silva Ramos Open the ORCID record for Kimberly Silva Ramos [Opens in a new window] ,
Renata Guimarães Netto ,
Daniel Sedorko  and
Diego Luciano Nascimento
Kimberly Silva Ramos*
Affiliation:
ICHNOS Research Group, Geology Graduate Program, Unisinos University, Av. Unisinos, 950, 93022-750 São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil.
Renata Guimarães Netto
Affiliation:
ICHNOS Research Group, Geology Graduate Program, Unisinos University, Av. Unisinos, 950, 93022-750 São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil.
Daniel Sedorko
Affiliation:
ICHNOS Research Group, Geology Graduate Program, Unisinos University, Av. Unisinos, 950, 93022-750 São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil. Museu Nacional, Departamento de Geologia e Paleontologia, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Horto Botânico, Parque Quinta da Boa Vista, R. Gen. Herculano Gomes, 1340, São Cristóvão 20940-040, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Diego Luciano Nascimento
Affiliation:
ICHNOS Research Group, Geology Graduate Program, Unisinos University, Av. Unisinos, 950, 93022-750 São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil.
*
Corresponding author email address: <kimmysramos@gmail.com>.
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Abstract

The Rio Grande do Sul Coastal Plain records sea-level oscillations driven by climatic changes during Quaternary glaciations, represented as four lagoon-barrier systems, the last one forming after the last glacial maximum and still active. Marine trace fossils are reported in the Pleistocene deposits, but terrestrial burrows also occur in the eolian deposits. The insect trace fossil assemblages from the uppermost Pleistocene deposits of the lagoon-barrier system III are used as relative proxies to infer the climate regimes that controlled sedimentation prior to the last glacial maximum. Two suites occur in the eolian deposits: the Vondrichnus suite, dominated by structures produced by termites, in the basal eolian beds; and the Celliforma suite, dominated by hymenopteran (bees and wasps) structures, in the upper eolian beds. The dominance of termite nests indicates humid conditions. The shift upward to the Celliforma suite signals a change in the humidity regime and the prevalence of drier conditions. The stratigraphic position of the ichnoassemblage, above the uppermost Pleistocene marine transgressive beds that formed during the last interglacial and below the record of the last glacial maximum in this coastal plain, suggests that the last glacial interval controlled this humid-dry fluctuation.

Keywords

Trace fossilsPaleoclimate bioindicatorsTermitichnusQuaternary icehouseCoastal dynamics
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 113 , May 2023 , pp. 134 - 145
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Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2022

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