Abstract

The environmental history of the central Pantanal wetlands of western Brazil is inferred for the last 19 kyrs based on a multi-indicator paleolimnological analysis of a sediment core from Lake Negra. The core, dated by 14 C and OSL, shows variations in the abundance, diversity, and preservation of sponge spicules and phytoliths through time, consistent with changing aquatic environments. In the late Pleistocene, Lake Negra was influenced by a strong monsoon and fluvial depositional processes, whereas in the Holocene, there was a drier interval where the lake was more isolated on the floodplain. Hiatuses in the stratigraphy resulted from both wet and dry conditions, through fluvial channel scour or subaerial exposure of the lake floor, respectively. Data suggest that floodplain lakes in the Pantanal wetlands and similar riverine wetlands respond in a complex and, at times, indirect manner to climate change, and the dynamics of the adjacent fluvial system must be accounted for when interpreting paleohydrology and vegetation patterns.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2019

Notes/Citation Information

0031-0182/ © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.01.015

Funding Information 

The first author thanks the Coordination for the Improvement of High Education Personal (CAPES) for a scholarship and PROEX/CAPES. AS acknowledges grant support from CNPq (431253/2018-8). We appreciate the support of the Paleo-environmental studies Laboratory of Fecilcam, Lepafe at the State University of Paraná, the Research Group in Limnology, Ichthyology and Aquaculture, Nupélia, at the State University of Maringá. Thanks to Prof. Dr. William Marcos da Silva, coordinator of the Laboratory of Ecology at UFMS - Pantanal Campus. SISBIO provided authorization for scientific research activities associated with this project (60099). We thank our reviewers and editors for their generous and helpful comments.

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