Lakes Paleolakes and Reservoirs in the Amazon basin

LATRUBESSE, E. M.

Encyclopedia of Lakes, Paleolakes and Reservoirs

Springer Verlag

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2008;

With ~6,200,000 km2 of drainage area mainly covered by the Amazon rainforest and discharging near 18% of the total flow of fresh water to the ocean, the Amazon fluvial system continues to intricate naturalists across the world. Lakes are a main source of information to understand the quaternary paleogeography and paleoecology of the Amazon as well as key pieces to understand the present day “physiology” of the environmental system. This chapter, focused on the lake record in the basin since the Late Cenozoic, attempts to understand the role lakes play in the basin, the main mechanisms generating them, their present distribution, as well as the environmental effects of dams and planned dam construction