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.

9911968Park 该奖项支持阿克伦大学地质系 Lisa E. Park 博士为期一年的合作研究项目； Kevin F. Downing 博士，来自德保罗大学；厄立特里亚阿斯马拉大学地球科学系的 Beraki Woldehaimanot 博士。东非中新世中晚期的地质记录并不完整，特别是 15 至 400 万年前的时期。 这个时期尤为重要，因为它是原始人类起源的关键且有问题的地质区间，也是全球气候剧烈变化的时期。 根据一项简短的试点调查，主要研究人员 (PI) 发现，达纳基尔裂谷中研究较少的一系列沉积矿床（称为红色系列）包含来自一系列复杂古环境的脊椎动物和无脊椎动物化石，并且其中一些这些矿床是 10-400 万年前形成的。 该实地项目预计将产生化石，这些化石将建立厄立特里亚东部达纳基尔凹陷的沉积矿床，作为研究东非中新世古生态学的重要而独特的信息来源。 PI 将收集和分析数据，使他们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，然后利用这些记录来评估中新世晚期阿法尔北部古环境的特征。 通过记录红色系列沉积物的动物区系变化模式，他们将寻求确定动物区系变化和物种进化与当地和区域环境变化或已知的重大气候变化间隔之间的相互关系。该研究还将提供初步的沉积学和地层学数据，这些数据将为了解世界这一地质关键地区的沉积与构造历史之间的关系提供新的见解。此次合作结合了博士的专业知识。 Park 和 Downing 分别研究无脊椎动物古生物学以及地质和脊椎动物古生物学，Woldehaimanot 博士拥有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、一名美国研究生以及阿斯马拉大学的研究人员和学生。 这项调查预计将提供有关早期原始人类栖息地的重要古生态信息。 研究结果还具有潜在的应用价值，有助于了解东非北部阿法尔地区中中新世中期发生的构造、构造地质学、地质年代学、气候学和人类生态事件。国际项目部和地球科学部共同为该项目提供资金。