Incised valley paleoenvironments interpreted by seismic stratigraphic approach in Patos Lagoon, Southern Brazil

<div><p>ABSTRACT: The Rio Grande do Sul (RS) coastal plain area (33,000 km 2 ) had its physiography modified several times through the Quaternary, responding to allogenic and autogenic forcings. The Patos Lagoon covers a significant area of RS coastal plain (10,000 km 2 ), where incised valleys were identified in previous works. About 1,000 km of high resolution (3.5 kHz) seismic profiles, radiocarbon datings, Standard Penetration Test (SPT) and gravity cores were analyzed to interpret the paleoenvironmental evolution as preserved in incised valley infills. Seismic facies were recognized by seismic parameters. The sediment cores were used to ground-truth the seismic interpretations and help in the paleoenvironmental identification. Key surfaces were established to detail the stratigraphical framework, and seismic facies were grouped into four seismic units, which one classified in respective system tracts within three depositional sequences. The oldest preserved deposits are predominantly fluvial and estuarine facies, representing the falling stage and lowstand system tracts. The Holocene transgressive records are dominated by muddy material, mainly represented by estuarine facies with local variations. The transgression culminated in Late Holocene deposits of Patos Lagoon, representing the highstand system tract. The depositional pattern of the vertical succession was controlled by eustatic variations, while the autogenic forcing (paleogeography and sediment supply) modulated the local facies variation.</p></div

Discontinuity-bounded alluvial sequences of the southern gangetic plains, India: Aggradation and degradation in response to monsoonal strength

ABSTRACT: Discontinuity-bounded late Quaternary sequences in the southern Gangetic Plains (Himalayan Foreland Basin) reflect flood-plain aggradation and degradation in response to forcing by the pow-erful Southwest Indian Monsoon. The major Himalayan and cratonic rivers in this area occupy narrow, incised valleys and do not inundate the adjoining broad interfluves, which display soil development, small plains-fed rivers, lakes, eolian deposits, and badland ravines. However, these areas formerly experienced active alluviation because thick flood-plain muds underlie the interfluve. An age model suggests that inter-fluve areas near the major rivers aggraded periodically between about 27 ka and 90 ka (Marine Oxygen Isotope Stages 3–5). They subse-quently degraded or accumulated sediment only locally, probably re-flecting decreased monsoonal precipitation around the Last Glacial Maximum (Marine Isotope Stage 2), when major river valleys moved to an underfit condition. Increased precipitation during the 15 to 5 k

Quaternary fluvial and eolian deposits on the Belan river, India: paleoclimatic setting of Paleolithic to Neolithic archeological sites over the past 85,000 years

Archeological sites in the bedrock Belan Valley at the southern margin of the Ganga Plains of India have unearthed Paleolithic to Neolithic artifacts and the first known evidence for rice cultivation. We present a sedimentological and paleoclimatic analysis for Belan sections, incorporating new luminescence and radiocarbon dates and a compilation of previous research. Some 20 m of strata are exposed in fluvial terraces, commencing with pedogenic and channel calcretes linked to groundwater ponding on the underlying bedrock. Overlying alluvium deposited from mixed-load meandering rivers yields dates between 85±11 and 72±8 kyr before present (BP), implying sustained fluvial activity during Marine Isotope Stage 5 and later; these strata contain Middle Paleolithic artifacts. Thin reworked gravels with Upper Paleolithic artifacts are dated at ˜21-31 kyr BP, and may represent declining alluviation and floodplain gully erosion during reduced monsoonal activity around the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Younger channel fills contain shell-rich eolian sand, and mounds of shelly sand lie inland from the river. Five OSL dates from the sands span 14 to 7 kyr BP, corresponding to a period of climatic instability that includes the Younger Dryas as the monsoon intensified following the LGM. Although suggesting more arid phases, the source-bordering eolian material has a small volume and the grains are partially bleached, indicating local wind action. Overlying floodplain muds reflect renewed alluviation, after which the river incised during peak monsoon flow. The Mesolithic settlement of Chopani-Mando spans a period of reduced monsoon activity and climatic instability following the LGM. Subsequent Neolithic settlements were probably established under stronger monsoon conditions suitable for the development of agriculture. Mesolithic habitation may have ended when a nearby bedrock channel was abandoned as the reinvigorated Belan cut a new course, along which Neolithic settlements were later established

Craton-derived alluvium as a major sediment source in the Himalayan Foreland Basin of India

Within the Himalayan Foreland Basin, the axial Yamuna River with Himalayan headwaters lies along the northern margin of the Indian Craton, giving the impression that cratonic rivers have contributed little to the basin compared with Himalayan drainages. However, the Betwa, Chambal, and other rivers, which drain northward into the Yamuna, are vigorous monsoonal rivers with large catchments. Stratigraphic and petrographic evidence shows that sediment derived largely from these rivers extends north of the axial Yamuna River. Red feldspathic sand and gravel underlie much of the southern foreland basin at shallow depth (>25 m), where its topmost strata are dated at ca. 119 ka ago, and extend at deeper levels (>500 m) to about one-third of the distance across the foreland basin. Petrographic analysis confirms a match with modern Betwa River sands, which derive their feldspar from granitic gneisses of the Bundelkhand Complex. Along the Yamuna Valley the red alluvium is overlain by gray alluvium dated at 82-35 ka ago, which also yields a cratonic signature, with large amounts of smectite derived from the Deccan Traps. Cratonic contributions are evident in alluvium as young as 9 ka ago in a section 25 km north of the Yamuna. This gray cratonic sediment was probably deposited in part by the Chambal River, which transports high-grade metamorphic minerals from the Banded Gneiss Complex of the Aravalli belt. Cratonic sediment appears to interfinger with Himalayan detritus farther north below the Ganga-Yamuna Interfluve. With its headwaters in the tectonically unstable Indus-Ganga watershed area, the Yamuna River may have occupied its present course late in the Quaternary, and if so, cratonic rivers may have provided the basin's axial drainage for prolonged periods. The penetration of Himalayan sediment to the distal foreland basin may reflect avulsion of orogenic rivers along the craton margin, in addition to dynamic transverse drainage systems from the Himalaya that pushed the axial drainage to the basin's feather edge. The wide spread of cratonic sediment would have been enhanced by slow subsidence in the distal foreland basin and focusing of rivers into a basin reentrant