L'Amazone à Óbidos (Brésil): étude statistique des débits et bilan hydrologique

Résumé

Effectuées dans le cadre du Projet Hidrologia e geoquímica na Bacia Amazönica (HiBAm), les nouvelles mesures de débit à Obidos ont amélioré la connaissance des caractéristiques hydrologiques de l'Amazone à cette station qui contrâle les plus forts débits du monde. Une nouvelle méthode de correction détermine les débits journaliers avec une précision de ±3.0%. La reconstitution des périodes manquantes, avec les observations faites à Manaus, permet de disposer d'une chronologie de près d'un siècle. Avec cet échantillon commençant en 1902, le module interannuel de l'Amazone à Obidos est de 163 000 m³ s^?1, avec un coefficient d'irrégularité extrêmement faible (K3 = 1.28). L'étiage décennal (78 000 m³ s^?1) est de même grandeur que la crue centenaire du Congo à Brazzaville. La crue décennale est estimée à 260 000 m³ s^?1. Le Bilan hydrologique indique un déficit d'écoulement de 1193 mm, qui peut être assimilé à l'évapotranspiration réelle. En conclusion, l'Amazone est bien le fleuve le plus puissant et le plus régulier de la planète.     

A depositional model for a wave‐dominated open‐coast tidal flat,based on analyses of the Cambrian–Ordovician Lagarto and Palmares formations,north‐eastern Brazil

Open‐coast tidal flats are hybrid depositional systems resulting from the interaction of waves and tides. Modern examples have been recognized, but few cases have been described in ancient rock successions. An example of an ancient open‐coast tidal flat, the depositional architecture of the Lagarto and Palmares formations (Cambrian–Ordovician of the Sergipano Belt, north‐eastern Brazil) is presented here. Detailed field analyses of outcrops allowed the development of a conceptual architectural model for a coastal depositional environment that is substantially different from classical wave‐dominated or tide‐dominated coastal models. This architectural model is dominated by storm wave, low orbital velocity wave and tidal current beds, which vary in their characteristics and distribution. In a landward direction, the storm deposits decrease in abundance, dimension (thickness and spacing) and grain size, and vary from accretionary through scour and drape to anisotropic hummocky cross‐stratification beds. Low orbital wave deposits are more common in the medium and upper portion of the tidal flat. Tidal deposits, which are characterized by mudstone interbedded with sandstone strata, are dominant in the landward portion of the tidal flat. Hummocky cross‐stratification beds in the rock record are believed, in general, to represent storm deposits in palaeoenvironments below the fair‐weather wave base. However, in this model of an open‐coast tidal flat, hummocky cross‐stratification beds were found in very shallow waters above the fair‐weather wave base. Indeed, this depositional environment was characterized by: (i) fair‐weather waves and tides that lacked sufficient energy to rework the storm deposits; (ii) an absence of biological communities that could disrupt the storm deposits; and (iii) high aggradation rates linked to an active foreland basin, which contributed definitively to the rapid burial and preservation of these hummocky cross‐stratification deposits.     

Late Holocene in central Brazil: vegetation changes and humidity variability in a tropical wetland

The Pandeiros wetland is a high biodiversity ecosystem located within a semiarid region of the Cerrado biome, a neotropical savanna. This large wetland is of key importance for ecological and hydrological balance in central Brazil and for the conservation of the Cerrado fauna and flora. In this study, we present the first palaeoecological investigation of the Pandeiros wetland based on pollen analysis of a palm swamp sediment core encompassing the Late Holocene. Our results show that the wetland was subject to multicentennial-scale oscillations in water availability during the Late Holocene; in particular, higher local humidity was documented between 4100 and 3100 cal a bp and from 2600 to 1000 cal a bp , and two events of drier local conditions occurred at approximately 2900 and 900 cal a bp. Our results also indicate a general decreasing trend in arboreal density in the Pandeiros River Basin from the beginning of the Late Holocene to the present, with the greatest expansion of dry forest occurring between 3600 and 3100 cal a bp.     

Silver, Cadmium and Lead Contents of Some Rock Reference Samples

A series of rock reference samples have been analyzed for Ag, Cd and Pb. All elements were determined from a single digest using a method involving solvent extraction and flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry.     

Peri-Urbanisation and Rural Roads

This paper examines the impact of periurban development on the physical capacity of the roading network in an area to the north west of Tauranga, exploring the potential impact of subdivision, population growth and building of new residences in rural areas with respect to pressures on rural roads. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are used to integrate large volumes of complex road and other data, model traffic flow generated from these data, display the outcomes effectively and test the effect of different development scenarios in a particular peri-urban environment.     

Etablissement de la relation hauteur-débit de l'Amazone à Óbidos: méthode de la dénivelée normale à “géométrie variable”

Résumé

Cet article décrit la façon dont ont été calculés les débits journaliers de l'Amazone à Óbidos. La relation hauteur-débit est univoque en basses et moyennes eaux. En période de hautes eaux la dispersion des jaugeages par rapport à la courbe de tarage univoque amène à corriger les débits en fonction des niveaux à Santarém puis à Parintins. La méthode de la “dénivelée normale” n'étant pas bien adaptée pour Óbidos: elle a été remplacée par une “dénivelée à géométrie variable” fonction de la hauteur d'eau à Óbidos. En utilisant seulement la station de Santarém, l'application de cette nouvelle méthode ramène la dispersion à 3.0% sur la totalité de la courbe de tarage.     

Use of satellite communication of hydrometric data for the whole of Brazil

Abstract

The difficulties of exploiting the huge Brazilian hydrometeorological network led hydrologists of the Departamento Nacional de Águas e Energie Elétrica (DNAEE—Brazilian Department of Water and Electric Power) to use real time satellite telecommunications to improve network management. Data-gathering satellites, which are perfectly adapted to this network, were first used in 1975 and have interested DNAEE since 1980. Collaboration with ORSTOM permitted an initial evaluation of the technique in 1982. In 1984 DNAEE, together with ORSTOM, was able to set up a 20-station network in the Amazon. The results have been so encouraging that a scheme for 200 stations equipped with telecommunications facilities which use the Brazilian Satélite de Colecta de Dados number 1 (SCD1) satellite is in the final stages. This network will cover the entire country.     

Aseismic controls on in situ soft-sediment deformation processes and products in submarine slope deposits of the Karoo Basin, South Africa

Intervals of soft‐sediment deformation features, including vertical fluid escape and load structures, are common and well‐exposed in Permian lower slope deposits of the Tanqua Depocentre, Karoo Basin. The structures mainly comprise elongated flames and load structures associated with ruptured sandstones and structureless siltstones, observed over a range of scales. The presence of an upper structureless siltstone layer linked to the flames, interpreted as a product of the debouching of fine‐grained material transported through the flame onto the palaeo‐seabed, together with the drag and upward folding of lower sandstone layers is evidence that the flames were formed in situ by upward movement of sediment‐rich fluids. Flames are oriented parallel to the deep‐water palaeoslope in lateral splay deposits between two major slope channel complexes. Statistical correlation and regression analyses of 180 flame structures from seven stratigraphic intervals suggest a common mechanism for the deformation and indicate the importance of fluidization as a deformation mechanism. Importantly, deformation occurred in an instantaneous and synchronous manner. Liquefaction and fluidization were triggered by incremental movement of sediment over steeper local gradients that were generated by deposition of a lateral splay on an inherited local north‐west‐facing slope. Seismic activity is not invoked as a trigger mechanism because of the restricted spatial occurrence of these features and the lack of indications of earthquakes during the time of deposition of the deep‐water succession. The driving mechanisms that resulted in the final configuration of the soft‐sediment deformation structures involved a combination of vertical shear stress caused by fluidization, development of an inverse density gradient and a downslope component of force associated with the local slope. Ground‐penetrating radar profiles confirm the overall north‐east orientation of the flame structures and provide a basis for recognition of potential larger‐scale examples of flames in seismic reflection data sets.