Photo: Jason Weimer4.5 km long sediment core provides unique information about the birth of the mighty riverAmazone River initiated as transcontinental river around 11 million years ago. This was revealed during a study by Brazil national oil company Petrobras on two boreholes drilled in proximity of the mouth of the Amazon River.
Together, they were able to extract and analyse a sediment core of nearly 4.5 in length. For the first time, this provided detailed information about the development of one of the mightiest rivers on Earth over the last 12 million years.
The study, conducted along with the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) and the University of Liverpool, revealed that approximately 2.4 million years ago the river took its present shape.
The information stored in the sediment core has large implications for our understanding of South American paleogeography and the evolution of species in the Amazonian Region and the Atlantic coast of South America. The study was published in the scientific journal Geology.
The sediment aprons in the proximity of major rivers often hold continuous records of terrestrial material accumulated by the river over time. Through these records, the oceanic margins provide a unique insight into the historic climate and geography of the land.
Using this fact, in the past scientists tried to learn more about the Amazon River. However, a sediment column of over 10 km in thickness proved a hard nut to crack and scientific drilling expeditions such as Ocean Drilling Programme could only reach a fraction of it.
Together, they were able to extract and analyse a sediment core of nearly 4.5 in length. For the first time, this provided detailed information about the development of one of the mightiest rivers on Earth over the last 12 million years.
The study, conducted along with the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) and the University of Liverpool, revealed that approximately 2.4 million years ago the river took its present shape.
The information stored in the sediment core has large implications for our understanding of South American paleogeography and the evolution of species in the Amazonian Region and the Atlantic coast of South America. The study was published in the scientific journal Geology.
The sediment aprons in the proximity of major rivers often hold continuous records of terrestrial material accumulated by the river over time. Through these records, the oceanic margins provide a unique insight into the historic climate and geography of the land.
Using this fact, in the past scientists tried to learn more about the Amazon River. However, a sediment column of over 10 km in thickness proved a hard nut to crack and scientific drilling expeditions such as Ocean Drilling Programme could only reach a fraction of it.
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