Ebba

Tracing the legacy of past semiarid morphodynamics in multiconvex tropical rainforest morphology in the Guiana Shield of Suriname. A comprehensive survey of landforms, soils, geology and heavy mineral analyses in traverses across the tropical rainforest-covered Upper Suriname drainage basin, shows that the prevailing multiconvex morphology conceals evidence for duricrusted colluvial slopes. They testify of pedimentation processes in past semi-arid climate conditions in the presence of mafic rocks with ironstone caps in the headwaters of the tributary creeks. In areas underlain by granites and high-grade metamorphic rocks etchplain characteristics prevail. The multiconvex landforms also conceal dissected remnants of higher-level river terraces deposited during semi-arid climate intervals, as evidenced by their heavy mineral assemblages.