Scientists from the Federal University of Tocantins (UFT) and the University of Vale do Taquari (UNIVATES) identified traces of carbonized plant cells and tissues—known as macrocharcoal—in four sediment samples collected from the banks of the Madeira River in Rondônia. The finding indicates that there were forest fires in the region 43,000 years ago, during the Upper Pleistocene, 30,000 years before the first records of human occupation. The fires may have started as a result of climate change and contributed to flora renewal. It is one of the oldest such records in the country. In 2020, a group from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) analyzed macrocharcoal samples from 2.3 meters deep in the sediment that showed evidence of fires on the coastal plains of southern Brazil between 38,900 and 1,500 years ago. Studies of pollen grains from trees, shrubs, and ground cover plants suggest a drought-related vegetation change occurred in the coastal region between 1,600 and 1,500 years ago (Journal of South American Earth Sciences, January).
Republish