Assessment of Suspended Sediment Discharge in the Purus River Basin, Brazil
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International Journal of River Basin Management ISSN: 1571-5124 (Print) 1814-2060 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/trbm20 Assessment of suspended sediment discharge in the Purus River basin, Brazil Marcelo Latuf & Eufran Amaral To cite this article: Marcelo Latuf & Eufran Amaral (2016) Assessment of suspended sediment discharge in the Purus River basin, Brazil, International Journal of River Basin Management, 14:4, 413-429, DOI: 10.1080/15715124.2016.1215322 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15715124.2016.1215322 Accepted author version posted online: 03 Aug 2016. Published online: 23 Aug 2016. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 67 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=trbm20 Download by: [CAPES] Date: 06 October 2016, At: 13:49 INTL. J. RIVER BASIN MANAGEMENT, 2016 VOL. 14, NO. 4, 413–429 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15715124.2016.1215322 RESEARCH PAPER Assessment of suspended sediment discharge in the Purus River basin, Brazil Marcelo Latufa and Eufran Amaralb aNature Science Institute, Federal University of Alfenas, Alfenas, Brazil; bBrazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Rio Branco, Brazil ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Having a river basin as the study site, it is of fundamental importance to comprehend the sediment Received 6 November 2015 dynamics of river systems, in order to diagnose and understand them, aiming to carry out Accepted 17 July 2016 predictions. The observance of the sediment supply carried by the river systems is related to the KEYWORDS erosion, transport and deposition, through rainfall and dynamic land use and cover in hillside Hydrossedimentology; environments. The Purus River basin is part of this context, the study area of this paper and it is Brazilian Amazon region; located in the Amazon biome. This study aims to start the first steps to understand the suspended rating curves; deforestation sediment dynamics of that basin, because of its expressive environmental variations. For this purpose was considered the sediment present in the river systems as an indicator which can be understood and used in order to support soil and water conservation measures in the Purus River basin, distinguishing the natural dynamics and anthropogenic dynamics. Thus, this study has the objective of evaluating the suspended sediments discharge in the Purus River basin, in order to collaborate with action planning and watershed management, with the objective of generating knowledge about the suspended sediment dynamics of that spring. 1 Introduction government planning meetings, as well as the development of combat and control strategies by the Brazilian government. Any research project or scientific research, either with primary However, the forest hides a bit thick substrate and low in or secondary data, carried out in the Amazon region is, nutrients, and with the deforestation there is a change in var- undoubtedly, a major challenge. The challenge falls under var- ious elements cycles, such as nitrogen, carbon, among others, ious scientific research stages and aspects, since the data collec- and what was forest quickly turns into degraded area, because tion is done, in situ, in an environment of difficult access. Not there is no expressive technical support to preserve such only because of the fact that the landscape sometimes is biome as necessary. flooded, but also due to the lack of movement routes that are Years went by, and associated with that context, there is a faster, where the distances seem to have no end; there is also rising demand for natural resources to the Brazilian economic the data processing from few and irregular sampling. and population growth in the region (e.g. demand for water). The land access to which we are accustomed (roads and rail- However, with the increasing deforestation (even at a slower ways) are scarce in this region of the planet and its construction pace), an increase of degraded areas and poorly managed, and and maintenance is expensive and takes time. An example is the population demand, can bring significant challenges to public BR-364 road, which requires decades to be completed in the administrations in the near future. There are even researchers Acre State, not due to the government inaction, but because who add to this situation the issues related to climate change. of the various difficulties faced in a hostile environment. The Purus River basin is studied in this paper in order to The difficulty lies in the time that each individual has, give the first steps to understand suspended sediment because the time depends on the Amazon water cycle, the dynamics of that basin because of its expressive environmental rainy and dry season variations and the depth of the rivers variations. For this purpose, it was considered the sediment which are the real Amazon road. Life has another speed, present in the river systems as an indicator which can be trans- not the speed at which we are accustomed. lated and used in order to support soil and water conservation As a result, it was considered by many, not long time ago, measures in the Purus River basin, distinguishing the natural as an unexplored region, where there was nothing, where you dynamics to the anthropogenic dynamics. could do everything. They forgot or, in other words, subju- Thus, this study has the objective of evaluating the sus- gated native and local people. Thus, it was tried to transplant pended sediment discharge (SSD) in the Purus River basin, a land use model that was not suited to the local and regional in order to collaborate with action planning and watershed characteristics, a model based on agrarian relationship and management, with the purpose of generating knowledge agricultural exporter, coming from the south-central Brazil. about the suspended sediment of that spring. This model has brought agrarian conflicts that persist to the present, as well as native forests deforestation to make way for pastures and temporary crop plantations for export 2 Study site purposes. With the growing deforestation in recent decades, the eyes Located on the western Amazon, the Purus River basin of the world turned to the Amazon. Thus, international (Figure 1) is configured as one of the main tributaries of pressure began to be felt by government agencies of the var- the right bank Solimões river, being part of the Latin Amer- ious spheres of power. Deforestation is now a priority issue to ican context of planning and management water and water CONTACT Marcelo Latuf [email protected] © 2016 International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research 414 M. LATUF AND E. AMARAL Figure 1. Purus River basin location, Brazil/Peru/Bolivia. ∼ resources in border areas between Brazil, Peru and Bolivia. the basin ( 75%, Figure 2). Latrubesse and Ramanell The basin has territories in the Departments of Ucayali (1994) admitted that the Solimões Formation has a single (Peru) and Pando (Bolivia) as well as in the Brazilian Acre continuous depositional cycle, through giant fans, during and Amazonas States. the Upper Miocene and the Pliocene (time correlated with Waters originated from Bolivia enter the Acre State, but the abundant and varied mammals fauna) (Acre 2006). mainly from Peru, through the rivers basin of Acre, Laco, According to Amaral’s data (2007), the Solimões For- Purus, Envira, Tarauacá and Jurua, feeding the Juruá and mation started with the Amazon Lake formation, hypothesis Purus Rivers watersheds, major tributaries of the right bank defended by Frailey et al. (1988) ‘it reinforces the theory of the Amazon River basin. Also, the Purus River basin, according to which, the geological, soil and biological con- through the Purus and Acre Rivers, is the navigable route ditions can only be well understood from a landscape evol- between Rio Branco/AC and Manaus/AM (Acre 2006). ution model’. Since its recognition, the English explorer William Chand- In this lake, there was a gradual sediment deposition, less in one of his articles about the Purus River (Ascent of the forming a laminar structure to this geological formation, River Purûs), published by the Journal of Royal Geographical which hinders the movement of groundwater, diminishing Society of London, reported a sharp observation of flooded significantly its storage. events, as well the flow and rise of plantation areas descrip- The basin climate, according to the Köppen climate classi- tion used by inhabitants and natives, associated with changes fication, is: Af, Am, Aw, CFB and CwB (Peel et al. 2007). Also, in water levels. to the largest areas are given the Tropical Equatorial (Af) and Annual flows variations in the Purus River and some of its Climate of Monsoon (Am) classification. tributaries highlighted by Chandless (1866) are associated with The climate type Af is characterized by the absence of a dry a natural climate prevailing system dynamics in the basin, with season, with a temperature mean of the coldest month two distinct periods related to the spatial and temporal rainfall exceeding 18°C and rainfall greater than the annual potential distribution and to the geological pedogeomorphic basin’s evapotranspiration. Furthermore, the climate type Am is characteristics, reflecting seasonal variations in the hydrologi- characterized by annual rainfall exceeding 1500 mm and pre- cal behaviour of its annual daily flow (Acre 2006,Latuf2011). cipitation of the driest month less than 60 mm. With an area of approximately 377,100 km2, the Purus It is essential to highlight the Alto Purus region, which is River basin has channels in dendritic pattern, but there is a characterized by the predominance of the climate type Aw, structural control drainage in some places, mainly associated with two distinct seasons (wet and dry), characterized by with changes in lithology and geomorphology. The long period the average duration of 4–5 months with a dry season.