Modern sedimentation in the Lower Negro River, Amazonas State, Brazil

The Negro River, which flows through the north central Amazon Basin, is one of the largest tributaries of the Amazon. The name “Negro” comes from the colour of its water, which reflects the large quantity of dissolved humic acids and iron oxides that also gives the water its characteristic acid pH. The river is estimated to have the fifth largest water discharge in the world, about 30,000 m3/s. The Negro River is characterized by a high dissolved load but a low energy system. Neotectonics and water quality are the principal factors that control the modern sedimentation in the Lower Negro River. The Lower Negro River is controlled largely by a NW–SE tectonic lineament, that is a segment of a major tectonic transcurrent dextral megasystem of the Amazon Basin. Neotectonism in this area is responsible for the depth of the river and for the occurrence of steep “falésias” (cliffs), along some parts of its borders. It also seems that neotectonics have influenced the origin of the Anavilhanas Islands, which are a series of anastomosed, elongated silty clayey channel bars, with internal round or long narrow lakes. The “igapó”, which is the forested area flooded during part of the year, appears to have a neotectonic origin as well. Igapós are located on intermediate blocks between the high blocks of the “terra firme” and the low blocks of the channel. The absence of clastic sediments carried in suspension is related to the rare appearance of floodplains, which are limited to very thin layers of fine sediments, located on the abrasion shelfs carved in clastic deposits of the Alter do Chão Formation. Sand bars occur in places along the base of the cliffs and along the edges of the channel system. These sand bars are composed of quartz sand, derived from the reworking of the sand of the Alter do Chão Formation.