The Taquari River has important meaning in the history of Mato Grosso do Sul State. During the last decades recent alterations caused by avulsion in the Taquari riverbed in the quaternary alluvial lowland of Pantanal in the mid-west of Brazil have had great socioenvironmental consequences. The Pantanal is formed by many alluvial fans and the Taquari River is the biggest one with two geomorphological compartments: a meander belt and the distributary fan lobe. Accelerated processes have been registered in these compartments. In the meander belt there has been migration of river banks and in the distributary fan lobe there has been bursting of marginal dikes by avulsion causing changes in the river course. The population living by the alluvial fan bears the conflict situation and human actions in order to prevent new opening in river canals have been registered. The dynamics in the alluvial fan is a natural process which has been accelerated in the last few years by activities in the headwaters in the surrounding plateaus. New changes might occur in the Taquari River channel in the future.
Alluvial Fan; Pantanal; Avulsion; Human Actions; River Bank Migration
