Vegetation and Sedimentary Changes on the Western South Atlantic Margin

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter was to identify and correlate vegetational and sedimentary changes with sea level fluctuation events and climatic changes that have occurred over the last two thousand years at the mouth of the Jucu River (ES), southeastern Brazil. Thus, a sedimentary core was collected with a depth of 190 cm, and was used to perform pollen, sedimentary and C-14 dating analyses. The results showed the formation of four zones. The first zone started around 2212 cal years BP, with sandy sediments, which is indicative of high energy flow. The analysis of the palynological profile indicated the presence of herbaceous vegetation. In the second and third zones, which correspond to the period of ±2210 to ±460 cal years BP, there was a predominance of silt-sandy sediment, with the installation of the mangrove. The fourth zone considers the period of ±460 cal years BP until the present, marked by the presence of silt-clay sediment and predominance of herbaceous vegetation. Furthermore, the presence of Laguncularia and Rhizophora remained almost continuous during the fourth zone.