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Holocene Environmental Changes from the Rio Curuá Record in the Caxiuanã Region, Eastern Amazon Basin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Hermann Behling  and
Marcondes Lima da Costa
Hermann Behling
Affiliation:
Center for Tropical Marine Ecology, Fahrenheitstrasse 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany, E-mail: hbehling@zmt.uni-bremen.de
Marcondes Lima da Costa
Affiliation:
Department of Geochemistry and Petrology, Geosciences Center—Federal University of Pará, Campus of Guamá, P.O. Box 1611, 66075-110 Belém/Pará, Brazil, E-mail: mlc@ufpa.br
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Abstract

Holocene environments have been reconstructed by multiproxy studies of an 850-cm-long core from Rio Curuá dating to >8000 14C yr B.P. The low-energy river lies in the eastern Amazon rain forest in the Caxiuanã National Forest Reserve, 350 km west of Belem in northern Brazil. Sedimentological, mineralogical, and geochemical dates demonstrate that the deposits correspond to two different environments, sediments of an active river before 8000 14C yr B.P. and later a passive river system. The pollen analytical results indicate four different local and regional Holocene paleoenvironmental periods: (1) a transition to a passive fluvial system and a well-drained terra firme (unflooded upland) Amazon rain forest with very limited development of inundated forests (várzea and igapó) (>7990–7030 14C yr B.P.); (2) a sluggish river with a local Mauritia palm-swamp and similar regional vegetation, as before (7030–5970 14C yr B.P.); (3) a passive river, forming shallow lake conditions and with still-abundant terra firme forest in the study region (5970–2470 14C yr B.P.); and (4) a blocked river with high water levels and marked increase of inundated forests during the last 2470 14C yr B.P. Increased charcoal during this last period suggests the first strong presence of humans in this region. The Atlantic sea level rise was probably the major factor in paleoenvironmental changes, but high water stands might also be due to greater annual rainfall during the late Holocene.

Keywords

BrazilAmazon rain forestHolocenepaleoenvironmentpollencharcoalmultielement geochemistryvegetation dynamicsfire historypre-Columbian settlementsea levelHolocene transgression
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , May 2000 , pp. 369 - 377
Copyright
University of Washington

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