Andean Tectonics and Mantle Dynamics as a Pervasive Influence on Amazonian Ecosystem

The Amazonian landscape evolution is the result of the combined effect of Andean tectonism, climate and the Earth’s interior dynamics. To reconstruct the landscape evolution and its influence on paleoenvironmental variations within Amazonia since the Oligocene, we conducted numerical experiments tha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2019-11, Vol.9 (1), p.16879-11, Article 16879
Main Authors: Bicudo, Tacio Cordeiro, Sacek, Victor, de Almeida, Renato Paes, Bates, John M., Ribas, Camila Cherem
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
704/158/852
704/2151/210
704/2151/562
Climate effects
Drainage patterns
Evolution
Forests
Humanities and Social Sciences
Landscape
Lithosphere
Miocene
multidisciplinary
Nutrient availability
Oligocene
Phylogeography
Plate tectonics
Rivers
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Sedimentation
Sedimentation & deposition
Sediments
Soil erosion
Speciation
Topography
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Summary:The Amazonian landscape evolution is the result of the combined effect of Andean tectonism, climate and the Earth’s interior dynamics. To reconstruct the landscape evolution and its influence on paleoenvironmental variations within Amazonia since the Oligocene, we conducted numerical experiments that incorporate different surface and geodynamic processes, reproducing many paleogeographic features as inferred from the sedimentary record. We show that the evolution of the drainage pattern gradually reduced the area of sedimentation derived from the Guiana and Brazilian shields while expanded the Andean derived deposits during the Miocene, affecting the nutrient availability. First order biotic habitats were inferred from these paleogeographical reconstructions, showing an eastward expansion of várzea and terra firme forests and consequent retraction of igapó forests, with a millennial-scale reconfiguration of a mosaic of habitats in the lowlands. We conclude that this dynamism probably guided the observed patterns of speciation in the most biodiverse biome on Earth.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-53465-y