WIT Press


Chemistry Of Different Amazonian Water Types For River Classification: A Preliminary Review

Price

Free (open access)

Volume

178

Pages

12

Page Range

17 - 28

Published

2013

Size

773 kb

Paper DOI

10.2495/WS130021

Copyright

WIT Press

Author(s)

E. A. Ríos-Villamizar, M. T. F. Piedade, J. G. Da Costa, J. M. Adeney & W. J. Junk

Abstract

Water chemistry provides important parameters for the study of river ecology and management options of rivers and connected wetlands. Sioli, in the 1950s, established three water types (whitewater, blackwater and clearwater) for explaining limnological characteristics of the large Amazonian rivers, and related the physico-chemical parameters of these water types with the geological properties of their basins; a landscape ecology approach. Today, an increasing amount of hydrochemical data indicate that the chemical composition of Amazonian water bodies varies much more than assumed by Sioli. Nonetheless, due to its simplicity for describing the natural physico-chemical variability of Amazonian rivers, his classification is still valid. Our analysis, based in literature and field work, allowed to distinguish well among the three classical water types and to provide new preliminary insights about the limnological classification of Amazonian rivers in order to subsidize the sustainable management of water resources and wetlands. Keywords: Amazon basin, river classification, water hydrochemistry, landscape ecology.

Keywords

Amazon basin, river classification, water hydrochemistry, landscape ecology