EAGER: Microbial Successions in the Aftermath of a Snowball Earth Event

渴望：雪球地球事件后的微生物演替

• 批准号: 1048974
• 负责人: Roger Summons
• 金额: $ 29.93万
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-11-01 至 2013-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1048974&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Microbial; Successions; Aftermath; Snowball

This EAGER award provides funding to initiate a research project on samples of mineral-occluded bitumen materials from the Doushantuo Formation in southern China to analyze well preserved microfossils that include embryos of the earliest macroscopic animal life. The proposing Principal Investigator has recently developed laboratory techniques for extracting such organic material to avoid problems with prior weathering and contamination. Core samples from the region will be obtained by collaboration with Chinese colleagues with field work done by a post-doctoral fellow spending several months each year in Nanjing with the Nanjing Institute for Geology and Paleontology. The studies, which may be viewed as high risk, high reward research, are cross-disciplinary in nature and strive to overcome contamination issues that have plagued prior studies of Precambrian molecular fossils. The research aims to discriminate between two primary hypotheses for explaining the sudden termination of Snowball Earth episodes and the origins of Neoproterozoic cap carbonates. If successful, the work will improve understanding of past microbial communities and biogeochemical processes that took place during and after extreme climate events in the distant past. This exploratory project, from its studies of molecular and isotopic proxies that indicate the behavior of Earth?s climate system over long time scales, will contribute to the geological framework for understanding climate extremes of the past. The project involves close collaboration with Chinese colleagues and contributes to the professional development of the participating post-doctoral fellow. Research results will be disseminated to public media and schools as well as scholarly publications.

该 EAGER 奖项提供资金来启动一项研究项目，研究中国南部陡山沱组的矿物夹杂沥青材料样本，以分析保存完好的微化石，其中包括最早的宏观动物生命的胚胎。提议的首席研究员最近开发了提取此类有机材料的实验室技术，以避免先前的风化和污染问题。该地区的核心样本将通过与中国同事合作获得，并由南京地质古生物研究所的一名博士后研究员每年在南京呆几个月进行实地工作。这些研究可能被视为高风险、高回报的研究，本质上是跨学科的，并努力克服困扰前寒武纪分子化石先前研究的污染问题。该研究旨在区分两个主要假设，以解释雪球地球事件的突然终止和新元古代盖碳酸盐的起源。如果成功，这项工作将增进对过去微生物群落以及遥远过去极端气候事件期间和之后发生的生物地球化学过程的了解。这个探索性项目通过对分子和同位素代理的研究来表明地球气候系统在长期尺度上的行为，将为理解过去极端气候的地质框架做出贡献。 该项目涉及与中国同事的密切合作，并有助于参与博士后的专业发展。研究结果将传播给公共媒体、学校以及学术出版物。