RAPID: How Does Environmental Change Influence Landscape Evolution in the Pantanal Wetlands (Brazil)?

对该项目的非技术性描述，解释了该项目的意义和重要性巴西潘塔纳尔地区是一片广阔的源头湿地，在河流系统的演变中代表了一个鲜为人知的方面。这些环境对热带河流的生态健康极其重要。环境对气候和环境变化都很敏感，但这些变化对该地区的影响程度尚不清楚。该项目将检查从该地区收集的湖芯，以建立该地区环境变化的年表，记录该系统对气候的反应，并有助于评估人类干预的可能影响。这是一个由NSF国际科学与工程办公室(OISE)共同资助的合作项目。该项目的技术描述将研究环境条件的变化如何(1)影响地表过程(例如，侵蚀和风化)；(2)影响低地热带湿地的景观演变。现场地点是南美洲中部鲜为人知的潘塔纳尔。巴西潘塔纳尔为沿着几个汇聚的巨型河流(大型分布式河流系统)开发大草原-泛滥平原湿地提供了一个极好的例子。这项研究的主要目的是从潘塔纳尔北部的一个大型泛滥平原湖中采集新的湖泊沉积岩芯。湖泊沉积是第四纪地貌演化的潜在档案，因为沉积物组成和堆积的动力学对环境变化很敏感。该项目将使用标准技术来评估该湖今天是如何积累沉积物的，并将这些数据用作解释从湖芯中恢复的旧物质的框架。

A non-technical description of the project, which explains the project's significance and importanceThe Pantanal region of Brazil is a vast domain of headwater wetlands that represents a little-documented aspect in the evolution of river systems. These environments are extremely important for the ecological health of tropical rivers. The environment is sensitive to both climatic and environmental changes, but the degree to which these will affect the region is unknown. This project will examine lake cores collected from the region to establish a chronology of environmental change in the region that documents the response of the system to climate and can help evaluate the possible effects of human intervention. This is a collaborative project that is co-funded by the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE).A technical description of the projectThis RAPID project will examine how changing environmental conditions can (1) impact surface processes (e.g., erosion and weathering); and (2) influence landscape evolution in lowland tropical wetlands. The field site is the little- studied Pantanal of central South America. The Brazilian Pantanal offers an excellent example of extensive savanna-floodplain wetland development along several coalescing megafans (large distributive fluvial systems). The main objective of this research is to collect new lake sediment cores from a large floodplain lake in the northern Pantanal. Lake deposits are a potential archive of Quaternary landscape evolution, as the dynamics of sediment composition and accumulation are sensitive to environmental transitions. The project will use standard techniques to assess how the lake accumulates sediment today, and use these data as a framework for interpreting older material recovered from the lake cores.