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Climatic Events During the Late Pleistocene and Holocene in the Upper Parana River: Correlation with NE Argentina and South-Central Brazil Joseh C

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Climatic Events During the Late Pleistocene and Holocene in the Upper Parana River: Correlation with NE Argentina and South-Central Brazil Joseh C Quaternary International 72 (2000) 73}85 Climatic events during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene in the Upper Parana River: Correlation with NE Argentina and South-Central Brazil JoseH C. Stevaux* Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - Instituto de GeocieL ncias - CECO, Universidade Estadual de Maringa& - Geography Department, 87020-900 Maringa& ,PR} Brazil Abstract Most Quaternary studies in Brazil are restricted to the Atlantic Coast and are mainly based on coastal morphology and sea level changes, whereas research on inland areas is largely unexplored. The study area lies along the ParanaH River, state of ParanaH , Brazil, at 223 43S latitude and 533 10W longitude, where the river is as yet undammed. Paleoclimatological data were obtained from 10 vibro cores and 15 motor auger holes. Sedimentological and pollen analyses plus TL and C dating were used to establish the following evolutionary history of Late Pleistocene and Holocene climates: First drier episode ?40,000}8000 BP First wetter episode 8000}3500 BP Second drier episode 3500}1500 BP Second (present) wet episode 1500 BP}Present Climatic intervals are in agreement with prior studies made in southern Brazil and in northeastern Argentina. ( 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction the excavation of Sete Quedas Falls on the ParanaH River (today the site of the Itaipu dam). Barthelness (1960, Geomorphological and paleoclimatological studies of 1961) de"ned a regional surface in the Guaira area de- the Upper ParanaH River Basin are scarce and regional in veloped at the end of the Pleistocene (Guaira Surface) nature. King (1956, pp. 157}159) de"ned "ve geomor- and correlated it with the Velhas Cycle. In an overview of phological cycles in the Brazilian landscape (Gondwana, Central Brazil geomorphology and paleoclimatology, Post-Gondwana, Sul-Americano, Velhas and Paraguac7 u Bigarella and Ab'Saber (1964) de"ned some important cycles) and correlated them within southern Africa. pediments, pediplanes and terraces. These were linked to Later, Braun (1971), using aerial photography and radar the Velhas and Paraguac7 u cycles. images, updated King's work and provided more details Pioneer work in the Quaternary paleoclimatology in (Table 1). Central Brazil was undertaken by Cailleux and Tricart King's (1956) last two cycles have been correlated with (1957). Bigarella and Ab'Saber (1964) proposed the "rst some morphological features recognized in the Upper tentative correlation of glacial events and semi-arid con- ParanaH River area by other authors. Maack (1968, p. 254) ditions in Brazil. Basing their studies on arkosic sands in compared the beginning of the Velhas Cycle (end of the Brazilian Continental Shelf, Damuth and Fairbridge Pliocene) with the di!erentiation of the ParanaH and (1970) outlined the climatic mechanisms and climatic Uruguay River basins (Stevaux, 1994b, for a resume) and conditions in South America during the last glacial event. However, Milliman et al. (1975) and Irion (1984) are of the opinion that the feldspar of this sand comes from * Corresponding author. Tel.: #55-44-263-2285; fax: #55-44-263- the Andes or has originated from deep erosion of the 5116. Amazon River during periods of lower sea level. Colin- E-mail address: [email protected] (J.C. Stevaux). vaux (1996) pointed out that in this case, the deposits of 1040-6182/00/$20.00 ( 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. PII: S 1 0 4 0 - 6 1 8 2 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 2 3 - 9 74 J.C. Stevaux / Quaternary International 72 (2000) 73}85 Table 1 Brazilian geomorphological cycles (after King, 1956; Braun, 1971) Epoch Geomorphological cycle Main events Holocene Paraguac7 u Terrace processes, mainly #uvial systems Pleistocene Plio-Pleistocene Velhas Coastal and #uvial plains construction, shelf sedimentation Pliocene to Eocene Sul-Americano Pediplanization phase (aggradation), laterization, karstic drainage Paleocene to Cenomanian Denudation phase, tectonic activity (graben and horst) Turonian to Aptian Post-Gondwana Pediplanization phase (aggradation), end of basaltic volcanism Barremian to Berriasian Denudation phase Upper Jurassic to Paleozoic Gondwana Basaltic volcanism, desert formation Great sedimentary basins arkosic sand does not require an arid climate in the di!erent from that proposed by Bonetto et al. (1986, Amazon Basin. Bigarella and Backer (1975) made a syn- 1990) which excludes the Brazilian reach of the river. Out thesis of paleoclimatical changes in Southern Brazil dur- of the 909 km constituing the Upper ParanaH River (fed by ing the Quaternary. Ab'Saber (1977, 1982) published an a basin area of 820,000 km), only a stretch of 250 km is integration of the knowledge on Central Brazilian undammed. paleoclimatology available at the end of the 1970s. The object of this study lies near the village of Porto Paleoclimatological studies in the last two decades con- Rico (Fig. 2), state of ParanaH (223 43S and 533 10W), cerning the Brazilian continental Quaternary involved Brazil. The annual range of temperature of the area is mainly local approaches (Ledru, 1993; van der Hammer, 10.3 to 33.63C, with a mean of 22.43C, and an annual 1991; Servant et al., 1989; Sifeddine et al., 1994). rainfall of 1200 mm. Thus, the region has a tropi- Markgraf (1989) made an extensive climatic review of cal}subtropical climate (Cwa in KoK ppen's classi"cation). Central and South America since 18,000 BP, based on The ParanaH River, a wide (3.4}4.0 km in width) anas- pollen data. Clapperton (1993, pp. 202}205) gave a tomosing-braided system (Stevaux and Santos, 1998), has general review of the environmental changes in South an extensive alluvial plain developed only along its right America during the Last Glacial Maximum based on (northwestern) margin. geomorphological evidence. Thomas and Thorp (1995, The area comprises the geomorphological region 1996) compared the humid and sub-humid tropics in termed the Alto ParanaH highland by Justus (1985), char- South America and Africa during the Late Pleistocene acterized by smooth hills with altitudes ranging from 250 and Early Holocene. to 320 m. Stevaux (1994a) outlined four main geomor- An important contribution for the understanding of phological subdivisions that can be recognized along the the ParanaH River Valley evolution has been made by alluvial valley: Porto Rico, Taquaruc7 u, Fazenda Boa Ruiz (1963) and Fulfaro and Suguio (1974), who studied Vista, and Rio Parana Geomorphological Subdivisions the occurrence of gravel deposits within the eastern part (Fig. 2 and Table 2). of the basin. Basically, they found two generations of Structurally, the study area is situated between the Sa o gravels with di!erent compositions at di!erent altitudes, Jeronimo-Curiuva and Rio Alonso lineaments (Ferreira, and related them to the uplift of the Serra de Maracaju, 1982; Fulfaro et al., 1982). These features correspond to the headwaters of the ParanaH and Paraguay rivers. diabase dikes, fractures and faults oriented in NW}SE direction and delimit a series of tectonic blocks in the northeastern portion of the ParanaH Sedimentary Basin. 2. Study area of the upper ParanaH River Basin Jabur (1992) identi"ed an alternation of high and low blocks along the longitudinal pro"le of the ParanaH River The ParanaH River Basin is divided into four major that are correlated with the former lineaments. Using the parts (Fig. 1): upper course: from its source at the con#u- longitudinal pro"le of Jabur (1992) plus geotechnical well ence of the ParanamH ba and Grande rivers (lat. 203S, long. data from the Primavera Dam and Doutor Camargo 513W) to the Itaipu Dam (site of the Sete Quedas Falls); bridge over the ParanaH , Stevaux (1994a) concluded that middle course: along the Argentine and Paraguayan bor- the tectonic lineaments and blocks control the river pat- ders to the con#uence of the Paraguay River near Cor- tern, particularly the occurrence of node points and rientes (Argentina); lower course: corresponding to a vast braided reaches. alluvial plain as far south as Rosario; and delta course: Maack (1968, p. 252.) thought that the ParanaH River from the con#uence of Carcarana River to the La Plata channel followed a vertical fault (probably Late Me- Estuary (lat. 343S, long. 583W). This division is slightly sozoic) in the area of `ParanaH Canyona. Iriondo and J.C. Stevaux / Quaternary International 72 (2000) 73}85 75 Fig. 1. ParanaH River Hydrographic Basin. Suguio (1981) and Iriondo (1988) suggested that the 3. Materials and methods Amazonas and ParanaH rivers are in#uenced by neotec- tonic movements. Iriondo (1988) proposed that the The sediments were studied by using outcrops along ParanaH River in its middle reach (Corrientes-Santa Fe, the ParanaH River. These were supplemented by pits and Argentina) runs for 600 km along a tectonic lineation of trenches, 10 vibro cores (2}4 m deep with 7.5 cm diameter Pleistocene age. This lineation created a complex of tec- aluminium tubes), and 15 motor-auger holes (2}5 m deep tonic blocks di!ering in vertical displacement. On the and 7.5 cm diameter). Vibro core drilling in pans and wet other hand, geotechnical reports prepared for hydroelec- areas was performed from a light barrel raft. The cores tric dam construction excluded any neotectonic activity were split up, described, photographed and sampled for in the area (Washburn, 1930; Ruiz, 1963). textural, composition, palynological and dating analyses. Stevaux (1994a) identi"ed some neotectonic evidence After splitting, the cores were opened in a light-protected in the area, such as small faults in alluvial deposits and room and the halves were immediately covered with an lineaments observed on satellite images (Taquaruc7 u- opaque plastic "lm for later thermoluminescence samp- Anaurila( ndia and Porto Rico-Rosana lineaments). He ling. Textural analysis was undertaken by using conven- thought that the principal evidence of neotectonics is the tional laboratory procedures.
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