We recently had the opportunity to join forces with the research groups of Jeff Nittrouer (Texas Tech University) and Nils Asp (Universidade Federal do Pará, UFPA, Brazil) on a field campaign to the Xingu River. The Xingu is a tributary to the Amazon that drains off of the Brazilian Shield down into the rift and larger trunk channel of the Amazon. Data collected included geophysics mapping of the bottom and subsurface of the river, velocity measurements, water column and bed samples, and floc camera images. These measurements were made upstream of the Pimental and Belo Monte dams and reservoirs complexes in the bedrock regions of the Xingu, through the Pimental reservoir, and down in the lower tidally influenced Ria regions of the Xingu. The river was absolutely fascinating!
Leading head of a bedrock initiated island ~ 20 miles upstream of Altamira (looking downstream)
Downstream sand and gravel deposit (looking downstream)
Reservoir upstream of the Pimental dam
Sediment stirred up from the bottom of the reservoir (above image 4×3 mm) and bottom sample (below)
Setting up the ADCP in the downstream tidal Ria downstream of the bay-head delta.
