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Climate and hydrologic controls on late Holocene sediment supply to an Amazon floodplain lake

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Abstract

Organic and inorganic geochemical analyses on sediments from Preto Lake, a central Amazon basin floodplain water body, were used to document hydrological changes of the Solimões River during the late Holocene. Between 3600 and 400 cal yr BP, Preto Lake received smectite-rich sediment from the Solimões River, with high concentrations of Al (~ 53 × 103 ppm) and Si (~ 210 × 103 ppm). The high detrital input suggests there was a direct connection between Preto Lake and the main river channel. High river inflow maintained lake stage and was responsible for the contribution to sediments of phytoplankton-derived organic matter. Low sediment organic carbon concentrations characterized this period (mean ~ 3.8 wt%), probably because of dilution by river-borne lithogenic matter. Although the river inputs remained high, abrupt increases in TOC content around 1800 and 1200 cal yr BP suggest brief increases in fluvial nutrient supply to Preto Lake. During the last 400 cal yr, substantial declines in smectite (mean 40%), Al (~ 29 × 103 ppm) and Si (138 × 103 ppm) suggest the establishment of a semi-isolated lake, with reduced river inflow. A large proportion of C3-plant-derived organic matter, supplied by runoff from the kaolinite-rich watershed, was observed during this period, and was accompanied by high autochthonous primary production, driven by development of an aquatic macrophyte community. This change in sediment organic matter source accounted for the greater TOC content (~ 20%) of sediments deposited during this period. Although Holocene climate change was an important control on fluvial sediment supply to upper and lower Amazon Basin floodplain lakes, sedimentation processes in Preto Lake can also be linked to changes in the river’s course. The transition to a semi-isolated lake could have been a consequence of lateral and vertical sediment accretion, which formed a natural levee that blocked fluvial input to Preto Lake.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the French Research Institute for Development (IRD) and by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001. We are also grateful for the comments from the reviewers that helped us improve this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Geoquímica, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geociências, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Niterói, Brazil

    Luciane Silva Moreira, Renato Campello Cordeiro & Manuel Moreira-Ramírez

  2. Institut de Recherche pour Développement (IRD)-GET (Géosciences Environment Toulouse), Bondy, France

    Patricia Moreira-Turcq

  3. Institut de Recherche pour Développement (IRD)-LOCEAN (Laboratoire d’Océanographie et du Climat), Bondy, France

    Bruno Turcq & Sandrine Caquineau

  4. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geociências da Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, Brazil

    Keila Cristina Aniceto & Vanessa Cunha Silva

  5. Department of Geological Sciences, California State University, 9001 Stockdale Highway, Bakersfield, CA, 93311-1022, USA

    Anna Paula Soares Cruz

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Moreira, L.S., Moreira-Turcq, P., Cordeiro, R.C. et al. Climate and hydrologic controls on late Holocene sediment supply to an Amazon floodplain lake. J Paleolimnol 64, 389–403 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-020-00144-y

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