Geomorphological changes in the Anthropocene : fluvial systems for evaluating effects of the centenary urbanization processes of&#160; S&#195;O PAULO-BRAZIL.
Authors: Rodrigues Cleide 
Published: June 2022

&lt;p&gt;Cleide Rodrigues (1)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This study presents results of researches that was carried out over the last three decades based on&amp;#160; Anthropogeomorphological approach, i.e. the Anthropocene Geomorphology, that was tested and developed, aiming to identify and measure geomorphological changes that occurred in the urbanization process of the metropolitan region of S&amp;#227;o Paulo in fluvial systems. Historical time intervals of about a century or less were especially considered, as well fluvial geoindicators of form, materials and processes of fluvial and fluvio-lacustrine systems. The results were obtained for 20 different case studies and spatio-temporal scales based on procedures that combines historical approach in geomorphology, paleohydrology, fluvial geoindicators and retrospective geomorphological mapping. It was possible to identify the origin of geomorphological changes, classifying those changes in&amp;#160; anthropic, non- anthropic, or complex, to measure their magnitude and compare to holocenic pre urban scenarios of processes, forms and materials.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Applying&amp;#160; fluvial&amp;#160; systems as central reference to measure changes in geoindicators&amp;#160; in diferent scenarios of urbanization processes, allowed us to produce numerous and&amp;#160; convergent evidences to&amp;#160;&amp;#160; reafirm the necessity on considering&amp;#160; anthropic actions as an independent variable, as important as the independent variables of global climate changes and&amp;#160; tectonic activity. Among other fluvial processes geoindicators, the example of&amp;#160; the variability of extreme peak flows of higher order channels can be citted , which reached&amp;#160; 5 to 23 times more than the average of the extreme peak flows historically recorded ,&amp;#160; an increase that is more clearly correlated to the dynamics of anthropic interventions&amp;#160; than to the&amp;#160; regional climate and microclimate variability, both of them well known in S&amp;#227;o Paulo metropolitan region.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In terms of the discrimination of the nature of the driving forces&amp;#160; of changes,&amp;#160; high levels of&amp;#160; precison were reached for the majority of fluvial observed changes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The suitability of the utilization of&amp;#160; fluvial systems to measure anthropogenic changes in the Anthropocene was confirmed and appears to be related to some of their particular characteristics, such as:&amp;#160; &amp;#160;lower morphological resilience of those systems as responses to the inputs of matter and energy ; their morphological and processes responses tend to occur&amp;#160; in phase with the time scale of human interventions; for the most partof those systems there are the&amp;#160; possibility of their holocenic history being studied with precision;&amp;#160;&amp;#160; there are greater availability of historical data in general such as&amp;#160;&amp;#160; reports,&amp;#160; maps and iconographic materials&amp;#160; ;&amp;#160; greater possibility of benefiting from advances in interdisciplinary studies such as the branch of paleohydrology, which utilize&amp;#160; accurate tecniques, historical data and&amp;#160; proxy approach simultaneously, among other characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally, it is convenient to state that enhancing precision in the correlation between urban anthropic interventions&amp;#160; and their direct and indirect effects&amp;#160; in fluvial systems, enhance also the&amp;#160; apllied&amp;#160; Earth sciences as a whole, mainly in branches such as&amp;#160; environmental planning , fluvial&amp;#160; restoration and conservation, manegement of&amp;#160; flood risks&amp;#160; as well&amp;#160; forensic analyses, among others.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;University of S&amp;#227;o Paulo Brazil&lt;/li&gt;
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