US-Eritrea Cooperative Research: Paleoecology and Paleoenvironmental Analysis of the Miocene Red Series

美国-厄立特里亚合作研究：中新世红色系列的古生态学和古环境分析

• 批准号: 9911968
• 负责人: Lisa Park Boush
• 金额: $ 2.63万
• 依托单位: University of Akron
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-09-01 至 2003-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9911968&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: US; Eritrea; Cooperative; Research; Paleoecology

9911968ParkThis award supports a one-year collaborative research project among Dr. Lisa E. Park, of the Department of Geology at the University of Akron; Dr. Kevin F. Downing, from DePaul University; and Dr. Beraki Woldehaimanot, of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Asmara in Eritrea.The middle to late Miocene geologic record for East Africa is incomplete, especially for the period spanning 15 - 4 million years ago. This time period is particularly important because it is a pivotal and problematic geological interval for hominid origins, and it is also a time of dramatic global climate change. Based on a brief pilot survey, the principal investigators (PIs) found that the little-researched series of sedimentary deposits, known as the Red Series, in the Danakil Rift contain vertebrate and invertebrate fossils from a complex sequence of paleoenvironments, and that some of these deposits were made 10 - 4 million years ago. This field project is expected to yield fossils that will establish the sedimentary deposits in the Eastern Danakil Depression of Eritrea as an important and unique source of information for the study of Miocene paleoecology in East Africa. The PIs will collect and analyze data to enable them to develop a detailed paleoecological and biostratigraphic record for invertebrate and vertebrate fossils for the Red Series, which they will then use to assess the character of northern Afar paleoenvironments during the Late Miocene. By documenting patterns of faunal change through the Red Series deposits, they will seek to determine the interrelationship of faunal change and species evolution to local and regional environmental shifts or known intervals of significant climate change. The study will also provide the initial sedimentologial and stratigraphic data that should yield new insights into the relationship between deposition and the tectonic history of this geologically critical region of the world. The collaboration combines the expertise of Drs. Park and Downing, invertebrate paleontology and geological and vertebrate paleontology, respectively, with Dr. Woldehaimanot's expertise in structural geology and basin analysis. The research team will also include a sedimentologist, a US graduate student, and researchers and students from the University of Asmara. This investigation is expected to provide critical paleoecological information on the habitat of early hominids. The results also have potential applications to aid in understanding the tectonics, structural geology, geochronology, climatology, and human ecology events that occurred during the mid-Miocene of the northern Afar Region in East Africa. The Division of International Programs and the Division of Earth Sciences are jointly providing funding for this project.

9911968Parkthis奖支持阿克伦大学地质学系Lisa E. Park博士之间的一年合作研究项目； DePaul大学的Kevin F. Downing博士；以及厄立特里亚阿斯马拉大学地球科学系的Beraki Woldehaimanot博士。东非的中新世地质记录是不完整的，尤其是在15至400万年前的时期。 这个时期尤其重要，因为它是人类起源的关键和有问题的地质间隔，这也是全球气候变化的巨大时代。 基于简短的试点调查，首席研究人员（PIS）发现，在达纳基尔裂谷中，经过研究的一系列被称为红色系列的沉积沉积物中包含脊椎动物和无脊椎动物化石，来自古环境的复杂序列，以及一些一些古环境。这些存款是10至400万年前的。 预计该野外项目将产生化石，这些化石将在厄立特里亚东部抑郁症中建立沉积沉积物，作为东非中新世古生态学研究的重要和独特的信息来源。 PI将收集和分析数据，使其能够为红色系列的无脊椎动物和脊椎动物化石开发详细的古生态和生物地层记录，然后将其用于评估中新世晚期北部远处古环境的性质。 通过记录通过红色系列沉积物的动物变化模式，他们将寻求确定动物变化的相互关系和物种进化到局部和区域环境变化或重大气候变化的已知间隔。这项研究还将提供最初的沉积和地层数据，这些数据应为世界地质至关重要地区的沉积与构造历史之间的关系提供新的见解。该协作结合了Drs的专业知识。 Park and Downing，无脊椎动物古生物学以及地质和脊椎动物古生物学，以及Woldehaimanot博士在结构地质学和盆地分析方面的专业知识。 研究小组还将包括一名沉积学家，美国研究生以及阿斯马拉大学的研究人员和学生。 预计该研究将提供有关早期人类栖息地的关键古生态信息。 结果还具有潜在的应用，以帮助理解在东非北部地区中期中期发生的构造，结构地质学，气候学和人类生态事件。国际计划和地球科学司共同为该项目提供资金。