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的潘塔纳尔地区是一个广阔的源头湿地，代表了河流系统演变中一个很少被记录的方面。这些环境对热带河流的生态健康极为重要。环境对气候和环境变化都很敏感，但这些变化对该区域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。该项目的技术描述该RAPID项目将研究变化的环境条件如何（1）影响表面过程（例如，侵蚀和风化）;（2）影响低地热带湿地景观演变。野外考察地点是南美洲中部很少有人研究的潘塔纳尔湿地。巴西潘塔纳尔提供了一个很好的例子，广泛的稀树草原洪泛平原湿地发展沿着几个合并的巨型范（大型分布式河流系统）。 这项研究的主要目的是收集新的湖泊沉积物岩心从一个大的泛洪平原湖在潘塔纳尔北方。湖泊沉积物是第四纪景观演化的潜在档案，因为沉积物成分和积累的动态对环境变迁很敏感。该项目将使用标准技术来评估湖泊今天是如何积累沉积物的，并将这些数据作为解释从湖芯中回收的旧物质的框架。

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.