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Palaeodrainage on Marajó Island, northern Brazil, in relation to Holocene relative sea-level dynamics

Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais-INPE, OBT/DSR Rua dos Astronautas 1758-CP 515, 12245-970 São José dos Campos-SP, Brazil, rossetti{at}dsr.inpe.br

Márcio M. Valeriano

Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais-INPE, OBT/DSR Rua dos Astronautas 1758-CP 515, 12245-970 São José dos Campos-SP, Brazil

Ana M. Góes

Universidade de São Paulo-USP, Instituto de Geociências - Programa de Geologia Sedimentar e Ambiental Rua do Lago, 562 Butantã 05508-080 São Paulo, SP, Brazil

Marcelo Thales

Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi Av. Magalhães Barata 376-CP 399, 66040-170 Belém-PA, Brazil

A large area in northeastern Marajó Island, northern Brazil, has been characterized geomorphologically, applying information acquired from Landsat imagery. This study was combined with detailed sedimentologic analysis of continuous cores, which provided a record of depositional settings developed in this area through the Holocene. The results revealed well-preserved, meandering to anastomosed drainage networks of wide palaeochannels that were superimposed by a narrower palaeochannel system. In both cases, the sedimentary record consists of sands, heterolithic deposits and muds, locally rich in plant debris. The strata are organized into fining upward successions that reach approximately 18 m thick in the wide channels and 4 m thick in the narrow channels. Sedimentary features suggestive of a coastal location for the wider palaeochannels and reworking of sediments by tidal currents include the prevalence of well to moderately sorted, rounded to sub-rounded, fine- to medium-grained sands displaying foreset packages separated by mud couplets, suggestive of tidal cycles. The data presented herein point to a rise in relative sea level reaching the Lake Arari area during the early to late/mid Holocene. This event was followed by a relative sea level drop. Tectonics seem to have contributed to an overall lowering in relative sea level in the study area since the mid-Holocene, which does not follow the same pattern recorded in other areas along the northern Brazilian coast.

Key Words: Remote sensing • geomorphology • sedimentology • palaeochannel • Holocene • Marajó Island • relative sea level • tectonics • Brazil.

The Holocene, Vol. 18, No. 6, 923-934 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0959683608091798


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