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Latin American Journal of Sedimentology and Basin Analysis ISSN: 1669-7316 [email protected] Asociación Argentina de Sedimentología Argentina Fonseca DUARTE, Alejandro; GIODA, Adriana INORGANIC COMPOSITION OF SUSPENDED SEDIMENTS IN THE ACRE RIVER, AMAZON BASIN, BRAZIL Latin American Journal of Sedimentology and Basin Analysis, vol. 21, núm. 1, 2014, pp. 3- 15 Asociación Argentina de Sedimentología Buenos Aires, Argentina Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=381739311002 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative LATIN AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SEDIMENTOLOGY AND BASIN ANALYSIS | VOL. 21 (1) 2014, 3-15 © Asociación Argentina de Sedimentología - ISSN 1851-4979 INORGANIC COMPOSITION OF SUSPENDED SEDIMENTS IN THE ACRE RIVER, AMAZON BASIN, BRAZIL Alejandro Fonseca DUARTE 1 and Adriana GIODA 2 1 Federal University of Acre (UFAC), Department of Natural Sciences, CEP: 69.920-900, Rio Branco, AC, Brazil, [email protected] 2 Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-Rio), Department of Chemistry, CEP: 22.451-900, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil, [email protected] Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine the chemical and mineralogical composition of suspended sediments from the Acre River, located in the Purus Basin, upper Amazon basin, a region associated with the Fitzcarrald Arch. The elemental and mineralogical compositions of the sediments were assessed by using mass and atomic spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. A total of 46 samples were collected between 2008 and 2011 from four sites in the study area during wet and dry seasons. The suspended sediments contained feldspar, kaolinite, illite and quartz as well as the elements Hg, Zn, V, Ti, Si, Pb, Ni, Na, Mn, Mg, K, Fe, Cu, Cr, Cd, Ca, Al, S, and P in different proportions that were associated with the various weathering reactions linked to physical, chemical and biological processes in the region. The obtained results represent the first set of values and relationships regarding the mineralogy and chemical identification of the suspended sediments in the Acre River and can be used as a reference for the geochemical characteristics of the Purus Basin. Such regional studies will become increasingly necessary to observe the impacts of climate change and human activities on the suspended sediment load and composition of the Amazon River. Keywords: chemistry of sediments, Amazon Basin, Acre River Basin. km2 (Filho, 2005), and that of the Purus basin is INTRODUCTION 370,000 km2 (Paiva and Collischonn, 2012). The The Amazon River flows from the Andean Purus River begins in Peru at an altitude of 400 – Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. The Amazon 500 m a.s.l. and runs for 3,300 km with a mean rainforest is the largest hydrographic basin in water discharge of 10,499 m3 s-1 (ANA, 2011). The the world and has been described in terms of its drainage area of the Acre River basin covers 35,000 dimension, biodiversity, floods, droughts, rainfall km2, and its discharge varies between 30 and 1,200 variability (Villar et al., 2009) and projected climate m3 s-1. change (Chen et al., 2010; Fekete et al., 2010; The Acre River basin is affected by forest fires, Salazar and Nobre, 2010). Suspended sediment logging, agriculture and cattle production, which (SS) composition and flux (Bouchez et al., 2011), are the principal branches of the local economy. The as well as water quality are highly important for annual average rainfall in the region is 1,956 ± 223 ecological equilibrium (Berry et al., 2003), which mm, according to 1971 – 2000 climatology (Duarte, involves aquatic, terrestrial, atmospheric, oceanic 2006). The climate of the Amazon is characterized and estuarine interactions. by the occurrence of two principal meteorological The drainage area of the Amazon basin is 6.4·106 systems: the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) Received August 31, 2013 - Accepted April 12, 2014 3 Alejandro Fonseca DUARTE and Adriana GIODA Figure 1. Map of the Amazon basin showing the Fitzcarrald Arch, Solimões (Juruá, Purus) and Madeira basins. Inset: Acre River basin is shown in detail. B, X, P, R refers to the sampling location: Brasileia (B, 11°1.4ʼ S; 68°44.0ʼ W), Xapuri (X, 10°38.9ʼ S; 68°30.4ʼ W), Rio Branco (R, 9°58.7ʼ S; 67°48.4ʼ W) and Porto Acre (P, 9°34.5ʼ S; 67°31.9ʼ W). and the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ), Wang et al., 2011). Biomass burning, deforestation which are modulated by the natural inter-annual and fertilization produce materials entering the river variability related to El Niño and La Niña (Pizarro system and contributing to the composition of the and Montecinos, 2004; Marengo, 2008; Chiessi et al., suspended sediment (Zhang et al., 1999; Druffel 2009; Jury, 2009; Meehl et al., 2009). et al., 2005; Figueiredo et al., 2010). In the upper Townsend-Small et al. (2008) attributed the Amazon basin and particularly in the Madeira basin, Andean sediment loads (particularly those of gold-mining operations release large quantities of Hg organic sediments) to episodic events of heavy into the atmosphere, water and soils (Diaz, 2000; rainfall or storms. The mechanical erosion rate and Maurice-Bourgoin et al., 2000; Fillion et al., 2006). sediment fluxes due to weathering are related to Furthermore, the transport of particulate matter via precipitation, runoff, temperature, winds, humidity, rivers could be altered by dam constructions in the basin morphology and other climatic and physical Amazon basin (Kemenes et al., 2012). influences (Hurtrez et al., 1999; Gartner et al., 2008; The Acre River originates in Peru, then delimits Zoccatelli et al., 2011; Govin et al., 2012). Persson Peru, Bolivia and Brazil and runs through the State of (2008) confirmed that as a general rule, sediment Acre to join the Purus River, which is the main river samples increase in roundness, sphericity and that drains the Fitzcarrald Arch (Fig. 1). Riverbank- quartz content downstream from the Andes. erosion processes, transport and deposition of Elements such as Si, Mg, Fe, Al, Ca, Ti, and K are sediment in the floodplains and sediment re- found in river bed and in the suspended sediment in entrance in the river flux play fundamental roles different proportions (Mcdonough, 2000; Govin et al., in the geochemistry of suspended matter due to 2012), depending on geographical distribution and the structural dynamics of the region. According to redistribution factors, such as geological formations, Guyot et al. (2007), most of the suspended sediment parental rocks, mineralogy, soils, topography, land originates in the Andes Mountains and crosses the use, land cover, climate and climate change (Zhang Amazon floodplains before reaching the Atlantic et al., 1999; Liu et al., 2007; Yoshikawa et al., 2008; Ocean. The geological formation of the Purus 4 LATIN AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SEDIMENTOLOGY AND BASIN ANALYSIS | VOL. 21 (1) 2014, 3-15 Inorganic composition of suspended sediments in the Acre River, Amazon Basin, Brazil basin corresponds to the Cenozoic Solimôes (sub- Wet SS (mg L-1) Dry SS (mg L-1) Andean trough and Andean foreland in Central P 13/11/08 502 P 11/07/08 501 Amazon). Thus, in this region, the mineralogical P 28/11/08 503 P 24/10/08 140 and chemical composition of the SS should have common characteristics. The SS particularities are R 30/11/08 500 X 25/10/08 500 better established for Solimões and Madeira Rivers P 10/12/08 336 B 25/10/08 210 than for the Purus River; therefore, the objective R 27/12/08 500 R 30/10/08 501 of the present paper was to determine the SS load, seasonality and, mineralogical and chemical P 20/01/09 500 R 28/05/09 494 composition of the Acre River (Purus basin) as well X 24/01/09 381 P 06/06/09 122 as its regional connection. R 30/01/09 502 R 28/06/09 410 R 25/02/09 375 P 25/07/09 142 P 13/03/09 500 R 30/07/09 415 MATERIALS AND METHODS R 31/03/09 546 P 15/08/09 114 The study area comprises the Acre River basin R 29/04/09 507 R 25/08/09 154 (part of the Purus basin, Fitzcarrald Arch), bordered R 24/11/09 501 R 28/09/09 149 by the Andean Mountains and the Juruá, Solimôes P 09/12/09 512 P 10/10/09 457 and Madeira Rivers (Fig. 1). The white waters of R 23/12/09 551 R 20/10/09 156 the Amazon River begin in the elevated parts of the Fitzcarrald Arch, initiating the erosion processes R 20/01/10 161 R 20/05/10 77 and high sediment load that muddies the rivers. R 23/02/10 226 R 20/06/10 502 The study area contains the following classes of R 22/03/10 437 R 20/07/10 102 soil: cambisols, vertisols, luvisols, acrisols, ferralsols R 20/04/10 75 R 20/08/10 92 and plinthosols (Amaral, 2003; EMBRAPA, 2006; R 20/11/10 502 R 20/09/10 35 FAO, 2007). The sampling procedures have been R 20/12/10 500 R 20/10/10 336 previously described (WMO, 1994). Surface water samples were collected during the wet (rainy) and dry R 20/01/11 325 seasons from four sampling sites (Fig. 1): Brasileia, P 24/01/11 354 Xapuri, Rio Branco and Porto Acre. The sampling R 20/02/11 287 points were located in a well-mixed reach of stream R 20/03/11 227 whose width, depth and velocity ranged from 100 to 200 m, 2 to 12 m, and 0.5 to 1.8 m s-1, respectively.