Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-hfldf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-24T18:23:13.465Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Megafans of the Pantanal Basin, Brazil

from Part II - Regional Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2023

Justin Wilkinson
Affiliation:
Texas State University, Jacobs JETS Contract, NASA Johnson Space Center
Yanni Gunnell
Affiliation:
Université Lumière Lyon 2
Get access

Summary

The Pantanal Basin (west-central Brazil) is one of the largest alluvial wetlands in the world (> 150,000 km2) formed dominantly by coalescing Quaternary megafans. The Pantanal Basin is an efficient sediment trap: of 25 Mt yr–1 of suspended load that enters by the main river systems, only 10 Mt yr–1 is exported by the trunk river. Sediments are sourced by multiple rivers draining Precambrian lowlands and Paleozoic uplands. The eastern border displays tablelands of Paleozoic rocks of the Paraná Sedimentary Basin, with lowlands of Precambrian rocks on the northern, southern and western borders. The Taquari, Cuiabá, and São Lourenço megafans, tributaries to the Paraguay trunk-river system, are the largest fluvial fans in the Pantanal. The Paraguay River itself has produced two relatively small megafans. The megafans display four main landform assemblages: incised meander belts proximally, active aggradational lobes, abandoned degradational lobes, and mixed-process floodplains. Megafan surfaces display palaeodrainage networks ranging from braided channel planforms to the current meandering and anabranching planforms. Megafan areas seem to be a function of both feeder-basin area and catchment geology: those fed from sedimentary rock outcrops are larger, with more complex barform development than those supplied from Precambrian basement catchments.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ab’Sáber, A. N. (1988). O Pantanal Mato-Grossense e a teoria dos refúgios. Revista Brasileira de Geografia, 50, 957.Google Scholar
Alho, C. J. R. (2005). The Pantanal. In L. H. Fraser, and P. A. Keddy, , eds., The World’s Largest Wetlands – Ecology and Conservation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 203271.Google Scholar
Almeida, F. F. M. (1959). Traços gerais da geomorfologia do Centro-Oeste brasileiro. In Almeida, F. F. M. and Lima, M. A., eds., Planalto Centro-Ocidental e Pantanal Matogrossense. Guia de Excursão nº 1 do XVIII Congresso Internacional de Geografia. Conselho Nacional de Geografia, Rio de Janeiro, 765.Google Scholar
ANA – Agência Nacional de Águas (2004). Implementação de Práticas de Gerenciamento Integrado de Bacia Hidrográfica para o Pantanal e Bacia do Alto Paraguai ANA/GEF/PNUMA/OEA. Programa de Ações Estratégicas para o Gerenciamento Integrado do Pantanal e Bacia do Alto Paraguai: Síntese Executiva. Brasília, 64 pp.Google Scholar
Assine, M. L. (2003). Sedimentação na Bacia do Pantanal Mato-Grossense, Centro-Oeste do Brasil. Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas, Universidade Estadual Paulista – Unesp, Rio Claro, Brazil, Tese de Livre-Docência, 106 pp.Google Scholar
Assine, M. L. and Soares, P. C. (2004). Quaternary of the Pantanal, west-central Brazil. Quaternary International, 114, 2334.Google Scholar
Assine, M. L. (2005). River avulsions on the Taquari megafan, Pantanal wetland, Brazil. Geomorphology, 70, 357371.Google Scholar
Assine, M. L. and Silva, A. (2009). Contrasting fluvial styles of the Paraguay River in the northwestern border of the Pantanal wetland, Brazil. Geomorphology, 113, 189199.Google Scholar
Assine, M. L., Corradini, F. A., Pupim, F. N., and McGlue, M. M. (2014). Channel arrangements and depositional styles in the São Lourenço fluvial megafan, Brazilian Pantanal wetland. Sedimentary Geology, 301, 172184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Assine, M. L. (2015). Brazilian Pantanal: A large pristine tropical wetland. In Vieira, B. C., , A. A. R, and Salgado, L. J. C. Santos, , eds., Landscapes and Landforms of Brazil. Springer, Dordrecht, 135146.Google Scholar
Assine, M. L., Merino, E. R., Pupim, F. N., et al. (2015a). Geology and geomorphology of the Pantanal Basin. In Bergier, I. and Assine, M. L, eds., Dynamics of the Pantanal Wetland in South America, Springer Nature, Cham, Switzerland, 25–50.Google Scholar
Assine, M. L., Macedo, H., Stevaux, J., et al. (2015b). Avulsive rivers in the hydrology of the Pantanal wetland. In Bergier, I. and Assine, M. L., eds., Dynamics of the Pantanal Wetland in South America. Springer Nature, Cham, Switzerland, 83–110.Google Scholar
Assine, M. L., Merino, E. R., Pupim, F. N., Macedo, H. A., and Santos, M. G. M. (2015c). The Quaternary alluvial systems tract of the Pantanal Basin, Brazil. Brazilian Journal of Geology, 45, 475489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Assumpção, M. and Sacek, V. (2013). Intra-plate seismicity and flexural stresses in central Brazil. Geophysical Research Letters, 40, 487491.Google Scholar
Barbiéro, L., Queiróz-Neto, J. P., Ciornei, G., et al. (2002). Geochemistry of water and groundwater in the Nhecolândia, Pantanal of Mato Grosso, Brazil: variability and associated process. Wetlands, 22, 528540.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braun, E. W. G. (1977). Cone aluvial do Taquari, unidade geomórfica marcante da planície quaternária do Pantanal. Revista Brasileira Geografia, 39, 164180.Google Scholar
Buehler, H. A., Weissmann, G. S., Scuderi, L. A., and Hartley, A. J. (2011). Spatial and temporal evolution of an avulsion on the Taquari river distributive fluvial system from satellite image analysis. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 81, 630640.Google Scholar
Clapperton, C. (1993). Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology of South America. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 779 p.Google Scholar
Corradini, F. A. and Assine, M. L. (2012). Compartimentação geomorfológica e processos deposicionais no megaleque fluvial do rio São Lourenço, Pantanal mato-grossense. Revista Brasileira de Geociências, 42, 2033.Google Scholar
Davidson, S. K. and Hartley, A. J. (2014). A quantitative approach to linking drainage area and distributive-fluvial-system area in modern and ancient endorheic basins. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 84, 10051020.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Facincani, E. M. and Assine, M. L. (2010). Geomorfologia fluvial do rio Aquidauana, borda sudeste do Pantanal Mato-Grossense. In Martins Junior, C and Oliveira Neto, A. F, eds., Revelando Aquidauana (Campo Grande, Editora da UFMS, Brazil), (Serie Fronteiras nº 3), 267284.Google Scholar
Gregório, E. C., Facincani, E. M., and Amorin, G. M. (2016). Mudanças ambientais quaternárias no Megaleque Fluvial do Aquidauana, borda sudeste do Pantanal Matogrossense. Revista da ANPEGE, 12, 363389.Google Scholar
Hartley, A. J., Weissmann, G. S., Nichols, G. J., and Warwick, G. L. (2010). Large distributive fluvial systems: characteristics, distribution, and controls on development. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 80, 167183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horton, B. K. and DeCelles, P. G. (1997). The modern foreland basin system adjacent to the Central Andes. Geology, 25, 895898.Google Scholar
Horton, B. K. and DeCelles, P. G. (2001). Modern and ancient fluvial megafans in the foreland basin system of the central Andes, southern Bolivia: implications for drainage network evolution in foldthrust belts. Basin Research, 13, 4363.Google Scholar
Jongman, R. H. G. (2006). Pantanal-Taquari; Tools for Decision Making in Integrated Water Management. Alterra-rapport 1295. Wageningen, The Netherlands: Alterra.Google Scholar
Klammer, C. (1982). Die Paläowüste des Pantanal von Mato Grosso und Die Pleistozäne Klimageschichte der Brasilianischen Randtropen. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, 26, 393416.Google Scholar
Kuerten, S. and Assine, M. L. (2011). O rio Paraguai no megaleque do Nabileque, sudoeste do Pantanal Mato-Grossense, MS. Revista Brasileira de Geociências, 41, 642653.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuerten, S., Parolin, M., Assine, M. L., and McGlue, M. M. (2013). Sponge spicules indicate Holocene environmental changes on the Nabileque River floodplain, southern Pantanal, Brazil. Journal of Paleolimnology, 49, 171183.Google Scholar
Latrubesse, E. M., Stevaux, J. C., Cremon, E. H., et al. (2012). Late Quaternary megafans, fans and fluvio-aeolian interactions in the Bolivian Chaco, tropical South America. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 356, 7588.Google Scholar
Latrubesse, E. M. (2015). Large rivers, megafans and other Quaternary avulsive fluvial systems: A potential “who’s who” in the geological record. Earth-Science Reviews, 146, 130.Google Scholar
Macedo, H. A., Assine, M. L., Pupim, F. N., et al. (2014). Mudanças paleo-hidrológicas na planície do rio Paraguai, Quaternario do Pantanal. Revista Brasileira de Geomorfologia, 15, 7585.Google Scholar
May, J.-H., Argollo, J., and Veit, H. (2008a). Holocene landscape evolution along the Andean piedmont, Bolivian Chaco. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 260, 505520.Google Scholar
May, J.-H., Zech, R., and Veit, H. (2008b). Late Quaternary paleosol–sediment-sequences and landscape evolution along the Andean piedmont, Bolivian Chaco. Geomorphology, 98, 3454.Google Scholar
McGlue, M. M., Silva, A., Zani, H., et al. (2012). Lacustrine records of Holocene flood pulse dynamics in the Upper Paraguay River watershed (Pantanal wetlands, Brazil). Quaternary Research, 78, 285294.Google Scholar
Meira, F. C., Stevaux, J. C., Torrado, P. V., and Assine, M. L. (2019). Compartimentação e evolução geomorfológica da planície do rio Cuiabá, Pantanal Mato-Grossense. Revista Brasileira de Geomorfologia, 20, 159183.Google Scholar
Merino, E. R. (2017). Evolução geomorfológica e mudanças paleo-geográficas na porção sul do Pantanal: a planície de interleques do Rio Negro e leques fluviais coalescentes. PhD thesis. Universidade Estadual Paulista, Rio Claro, Brazil.Google Scholar
Nanson, G. C. and Huang, H. Q. (2008). Least action principle, equilibrium states, iterative adjustment and the stability of alluvial channels. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 33, 923942.Google Scholar
Padovani, C. R. (2010). Dinâmica das Inundações do Pantanal. Universidade de São Paulo/ESALQ, Piracicaba – SP, 174 p.Google Scholar
PCBAP, Plano de Conservacão da Bacia do Alto Paraguai – Pantanal (1997). Ministério do meio ambiente, dos recursos hídricos e da amazônia legal. Programa Nacional do Meio Ambiente (PNMA), Brasília.Google Scholar
Pupim, F. N. (2014). Geomorfologia e paleo-hidrologia dos megaleques dos rios Cuiabá e São Lourenço, Quaternário da Bacia do Pantanal. Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas – IGCE, Universidade Estadual Paulista – Unesp, Rio Claro – SP, Brazil, 109 pp.Google Scholar
Pupim, F. N., Assine, M. L., Merino, E. R., Macedo, H. A., and Silva, A. (2014). A planície interleques do rio Piquiri, bacia do Pantanal. In 5º Simposio de Geotecnologias no Pantanal, Campo Grande, MS, Brazil, 848857.Google Scholar
Shiraiwa, S. (1994). Flexura da litosfera continental sob os Andes Centrais e a origem da Bacia do Pantanal. PhD thesis, Universidade de São Paulo, IAG, São Paulo, Brazil.Google Scholar
Silva, A. (2010). Geomorfologia do megaleque do rio Paraguai, Quaternário do Pantanal Mato-Grossense, Centro-Oeste do Brasil. PhD thesis, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Rio Claro.Google Scholar
Sinha, R. and Friend, P. F. (1994). River systems and their sediment flux, Indo-Gangetic plains, Northern Bihar, India. Sedimentology, 41, 825845.Google Scholar
Souza, O. C., Araujo, M. R., and Mertes, L. A. K. (2002). Form and process along the Taquari River alluvial fan, Pantanal, Brazil. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, 129, 73107.Google Scholar
Stevaux, J. C., Macedo, H. A., Assine, M. L., and Silva, A., (2020). Changing fluvial styles and backwater flooding along the Upper Paraguay River plains in the Brazilian Pantanal wetland. Geomorphology, 350, 106906.Google Scholar
Tricart, J. (1982). El Pantanal: un ejemplo del impacto geomorfológico sobre el ambiente. Informaciones Geograficas, 29, 8197.Google Scholar
Ussami, N., Shiraiwa, S., and Dominguez, J. M. L. (1999). Basement reactivation in a sub-Andean foreland flexural bulge: The Pantanal wetland, SW Brazil. Tectonics, 18, 2539.Google Scholar
Weissmann, G. S., Hartley, A. J., Nichols, G. J., et al. (2010). Fluvial form in modern continental sedimentary basins: distributive fluvial systems. Geology, 38, 3942.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitney, B. S., Mayle, F. E., Punyasena, S. W., et al. (2011). A 45 kyr palaeoclimate record from the lowland interior of tropical South America. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 307, 177192.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, M. J., Marshall, L. G., and Lundberg, J. G. (2006). River behavior on megafans and potential influences on diversification and distribution of aquatic organisms. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 21, 151172.Google Scholar
Zani, H. and Assine, M. L. (2011). Paleocanais no megaleque do rio Taquari: mapeamento e significado geomorfológico. Revista Brasileira de Geociências, 41, 3745.Google Scholar
Zani, H., Assine, M. L., and McGlue, M. M. (2012). Remote sensing analysis of depositional landforms in alluvial settings: method development and application to the Taquari megafan, Pantanal (Brazil). Geomorphology, 161–162, 8292.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×