『Abstract
The Rio Solimoes(後ろのoの頭に〜)/Amazonas (Amazon
River) and its major tributaries have been analyzed for U-series
nuclides. 238U-234U-230Th-226Ra
disequilibria have been measured in the dissolved (<0.2μm) and
suspended loads (>0.2μm) as well as bed sands. U-series disequilibria
are closely related to major and trace element compositions and
therefore reflect elemental fractionation during chemical weathering.
Moreover, while the dissolved load records present-day weathering,
suspended particles integrate the erosion history over much longer
time scales (>100 ka). Lowland rivers are characterized by long
time scales of chemical erosion (≧100 ka) resulting in a high
weathering intensity. Moreover, exchange between suspended particles
and the dissolved load may explain the U-series signature for
these rivers. By combining U-series and Pb isotopes in suspended
particles, we show that erosion in the Rio Madeira basin occurred
as a multi-step process, whereby the pristine continental crust
was eroded several hundreds of Ma ago to produce sediments that
have then been integrated in the Cordillera by crustal shortening
and are currently eroded. In contrast, recent erosion of a pristine
crust is more likely for the Rio Solimoes(後ろのoの頭に〜)/Amazonas
(<10 ka). The suspended particles of the rivers draining the Andes
(Solimoes(後ろのoの頭に〜)/Amazonas, Madeira) suggest
time scales of weathering ranging between 4 and 20 ka. This indicates
that suspended particles transported by those rivers are not stored
for long periods in the Andean foreland basin and the tropical
plain. The sediments delivered to the ocean have resided only
a few ka in the Amazon basin (6.3±1 ka for the Rio Amazonas at
Obidos(最初のoの頭に´). Nevertheless, a large fraction
of the sediments coming out from the Andes are trapped in the
foreland basin and may never reach the ocean. Erosion in the Andes
is not operating in steady state. U-series systematics shows unambiguously
that rivers are exporting a lot more sediments than predicted
by steady-state erosion and that is a consequence of soil destruction
greater than production. By relating this observation to the short
time scales of weathering inferred for the Andes (a few ka), it
appears that the erosion regime has been recently perturbed, resulting
in high denudation rates. A possible explanation would be the
increase in precipitation less than 5 ka proposed by recent paleoclimatic
studies. Our results indicate that erosion responds rapidly to
high-frequency climatic fluctuations.』
1. Introduction
2. The Amazon basin
3. Sampling and analytical procedures
4. Results
4.1. Dissolved phase
4.2. Suspended particles
4.3. Bed sands
5. Discussion
5.1. Weathering in the lowlands: U-series characteristics
and their implications
5.1.1. Exchanges between particulate and dissolved loads
5.1.2. Time scale for erosion in the lowlands
5.2. Assessment of the steady-state nature of erosion
5.3. Time scale and history of erosion for Andean rivers inferred
from suspended particles
5.3.1. Short time scale for weathering and sediment transfer
5.3.2. Sediment recycling over previous erosion cycles
5.3.3. Rapid response of erosion to external forcing
6. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
References