RAPID: How Does Enviornmental Change Influence Landscape Evolution in the Pantanal Wetlands (Brazil)?

Our objective is to obtain NSF funding to immediately initiate research on landscape evolution in the Pantanal wetlands. We request consideration for the RAPID mechanism because permits obtained by team member Silva for collection of geological materials are time sensitive and otherwise impossible to acquire by American scientists. Mobilization of a field team before the weather window closes in 2015 (water levels are most favorable for access in October, prior to summertime Paraguay River flooding) will allow costs to be minimized, as graduate student team member Lo will already be in Brazil as part of a Fulbright program. Seed data developed with this award will be used to generate a competitive future proposal for scientific drilling in the Pantanal wetlands, designed to fully constrain the biogeomorphological history since basin formation.