Mudbelts of the South and Southeast Brazil: a geochemical dataset to investigate anthropogenic impacts

Abstract

The continental shelf has great environmental and social importance. It is responsible for one third of the global primary marine production, being a significant sink of organic carbon and presenting a great potential for exploitation of mineral resources. The mudbelts are elongated mud deposits located at the continental shelf and its formation pattern reflects hydrodynamics of the regional shelf. In Brazil, these deposits are not well known and their formation and sources are still unknown. Thus, the main objective of this project is to characterize the mudbelts, verify its potential of record of hydrodynamic and anthropogenic process and generate the first inventory of trace metals and major elements for the area. Therefore, minor and major elements will be quantified by ICP-OES and geochemical parameters like TOC, NT, ´13C, ´15N, mineralogy and stable isotopes of Nd and Pb will be quantified and qualified as well. Thus, this project proposes to investigate the potential sources of sediments, infer about different oceanography process in the area, verify the influence of Prata River on sediment transport and evaluate the potential anthropogenic trapping of these deposits.