Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Sedimentation rates in the Corumbataí River basin, Brazil, derived from 210Pb measurements

2005; International Association of Hydrological Sciences; Linguagem: Inglês

0144-7815

Daniel Marcos Bonotto, Kelly Yaeko Miyashiro de Almeida, Sammy Sampaio Sieber,

Heavy metals in environment

Activity profiles of excess 210 Pb measured in four sediment cores from the Corumbatai River basin, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, provided an opportunity to evaluate sedimentation rates that are helpful for defining appropriate management strategies for the hydrological resources in the basin. This is because Rio Claro city and other municipalities make extensive use of surface waters for drinking water supply. The radiochemical analysis of the sediment cores yielded apparent sediment mass accumulation rates of between 406 and 1014 mg cm -2 year -1 for secondary drainage lines, whereas an intermediate value of 546 mg cm -2 year -1 was found in the Corumbatai River, the main drainage system of the studied area. These values provided estimates of average linear sedimentation rates of between 3.1 and 16.2 mm year -1 that are compatible with field evidence, with the highest value corresponding with an area characterized by accumulation of sediment.