Applying DEM-SRTM for reconstructing a late Quaternary paleodrainage in Amazonia

Abstract

Remote sensing is a particularly invaluable tool that has helped the detection of paleomorphologies produced by river dislocation in a variety of landscapes, which has contributed in reconstructing the geological evolution of many fluvial systems. This technique might provide useful information to discuss the evolution of large fluvial systems, in special those located in areas of difficult access where the acquisition of field data is difficult. Application of remote sensing for paleodrainage characterization in densely vegetated tropical areas is scarce in the literature. This work records processing of the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) derived from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), which succeeded in revealing an ancient drainage complex of the Madeira River, one of the main Amazonas tributaries, where other remote sensing products failed the detection. Analysis of this paleodrainage and of its modern counterpart within the geological framework available for this region leads to propose that activity along pre-existent faults during the latest Quaternary would have promoted the southeastward dislocation of a nearly 200 km long segment of the Madeira River. During this process, an impressive paleodrainage network was left behind, which was only able to be detected using the DEM-SRTM. Application of this technique might be of great help to the detection of paleodrainage morphologies in densely vegetated areas similar to the Amazonas lowland. The dynamics of channel migration in this and many other large scale tropical river systems might benefit from the investigation based on data derived from DEM-SRTM.