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

对项目的非技术描述，解释了项目的意义和重要性巴西潘塔纳尔地区是一个巨大的水源湿地领域，它代表了河流系统演变的一个很少有文献记载的方面。这些环境对热带河流的生态健康至关重要。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可能产生的影响。这是一个由美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室（OISE）共同资助的合作项目。该RAPID项目将研究不断变化的环境条件如何(1)影响地表过程（例如，侵蚀和风化）；(2)影响热带低地湿地景观演变。野外地点是南美洲中部很少有人研究的潘塔纳尔。巴西潘塔纳尔河提供了一个沿着几个巨型河流系统（大型分布河流系统）发展的广泛稀树草原-洪泛平原湿地的极好例子。本研究的主要目的是从潘塔纳尔北部的一个大型洪泛平原湖泊收集新的湖泊沉积物岩心。湖泊沉积物是第四纪景观演变的潜在档案，因为沉积物组成和堆积的动态对环境变化很敏感。该项目将使用标准技术来评估湖泊今天是如何积聚沉积物的，并将这些数据作为解释从湖芯中恢复的较旧物质的框架。

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.