Book contents
- Fluvial Megafans on Earth and Mars
- Fluvial Megafans on Earth and Mars
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Regional Studies
- 3 Megafans of Africa
- 4 Megafans of the Northern Kalahari Basin (Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia)
- 5 The Chaco Megafans, South America
- 6 Megafans of the Pantanal Basin, Brazil
- 7 Geomorphic and Chronological Assessment of Aggradation Patterns on the Río Grande (Guapay) Megafan, Eastern Bolivia
- 8 Megafans of Southern and Central Europe
- 9 The Loire Megafan, Central France
- 10 Megafans of the Gangetic Plains, India
- 11 The Kosi Megafan, India
- 12 The Holocene Mitchell Megafan, Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia
- 13 Megafans of the Northern Victorian Riverine Plains, SE Australia
- Part III Applications in Other Sciences
- Part IV Megafans in World Landscapes
- Index
- References
6 - Megafans of the Pantanal Basin, Brazil
from Part II - Regional Studies
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 April 2023
- Fluvial Megafans on Earth and Mars
- Fluvial Megafans on Earth and Mars
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Regional Studies
- 3 Megafans of Africa
- 4 Megafans of the Northern Kalahari Basin (Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia)
- 5 The Chaco Megafans, South America
- 6 Megafans of the Pantanal Basin, Brazil
- 7 Geomorphic and Chronological Assessment of Aggradation Patterns on the Río Grande (Guapay) Megafan, Eastern Bolivia
- 8 Megafans of Southern and Central Europe
- 9 The Loire Megafan, Central France
- 10 Megafans of the Gangetic Plains, India
- 11 The Kosi Megafan, India
- 12 The Holocene Mitchell Megafan, Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia
- 13 Megafans of the Northern Victorian Riverine Plains, SE Australia
- Part III Applications in Other Sciences
- Part IV Megafans in World Landscapes
- Index
- References
Summary
The Pantanal Basin (west-central Brazil) is one of the largest alluvial wetlands in the world (> 150,000 km2) formed dominantly by coalescing Quaternary megafans. The Pantanal Basin is an efficient sediment trap: of 25 Mt yr–1 of suspended load that enters by the main river systems, only 10 Mt yr–1 is exported by the trunk river. Sediments are sourced by multiple rivers draining Precambrian lowlands and Paleozoic uplands. The eastern border displays tablelands of Paleozoic rocks of the Paraná Sedimentary Basin, with lowlands of Precambrian rocks on the northern, southern and western borders. The Taquari, Cuiabá, and São Lourenço megafans, tributaries to the Paraguay trunk-river system, are the largest fluvial fans in the Pantanal. The Paraguay River itself has produced two relatively small megafans. The megafans display four main landform assemblages: incised meander belts proximally, active aggradational lobes, abandoned degradational lobes, and mixed-process floodplains. Megafan surfaces display palaeodrainage networks ranging from braided channel planforms to the current meandering and anabranching planforms. Megafan areas seem to be a function of both feeder-basin area and catchment geology: those fed from sedimentary rock outcrops are larger, with more complex barform development than those supplied from Precambrian basement catchments.
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- Fluvial Megafans on Earth and Mars , pp. 100 - 118Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023