Quaternary Sedimentation on the Amazon Continental Margin: A Model
Sedimentation on the Amazon continental margin occurred in two distinct patterns during the Quaternary Period. During interglacials, when sea level was high (as at present), most of the sediment contributed by the Amazon River was deposited near the river mouth, then transported northwest along the innermost shelf by longshore currents. Apparently, little Amazon sediment escaped the nearshore environment. As sea level fell in response to glacial advance, the sedimentation pattern remained roughly similar, resulting in construction of an extensive prograding shoreline. Once the sea fell more than −60 to −80 m relative to present sea level, however, most Amazon sediment was channeled directly to the deep sea. Shoreline accretion stopped, but prograded sediments were preserved as a mud wedge that presently occupies the inner shelf seaward of the Amazon River. This model also explains the accumulation of large quantities of arkosic sands throughout the western Equatorial Atlantic deep sea during Pleistocene glacial epochs. These arkosic sediments appear to have been derived mostly from the Andes Mountains via the Amazon River.