Fish fossils from Miocene palaeolakes in the East African Rift valley in Kenya

肯尼亚东非大裂谷中新世古湖泊中的鱼类化石

• 批准号: 205772640
• 负责人: Professorin Dr. Bettina Reichenbacher
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Sektion Paläontologie und Geobiologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2010-12-31 至 2011-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/205772640?language=en
• 关键词: Fish; fossils; Miocene; palaeolakes; East

Sediments of palaeolakes can record the taxonomic diversity of ancient fish faunas in greater detail than river sediments because selective destruction is less prominent than in rivers or floodplains. However, the preservation quality of fishes in sediments of palaeolakes depends on certain physical and chemical conditions and such archives are rare throughout the world. The Miocene palaeolake deposits in the Tugen Hills in Kenya, within the eastern branch of the East African Rift System, offer a unique, sub-continuous record of fish fossils (Teleostei) from the middle and upper Miocene, which is largely unexplored. This raises the question as to whether this exceptional record of fish fossils can be used to better understand the Miocene environmental and climate changes within the East African Rift System. However, the project is designed as a pilot project because no fish fossils were available to me during the preparation phase of the project. It focuses on systematic collections of fish fossils from outcrops in the Tugen Hills that are known to bear abundant fish fossils, and a preliminary survey of the diversity, at least down to the family level. The collaboration with French researchers that are already active in the Tugen Hills (they are interested in the study of mammals) provides a perfect background for this pilot project. If fish fossils are as abundant and diverse as expected, a follow up project will be designed to further assess the palaeoecological information provided by the fossil fish assemblages from the Tugen Hills.

古果园的沉积物可以比河流沉积物更详细地记录古老的鱼类动物群的分类多样性，因为选择性破坏不如河流或洪泛区中突出。然而，古果石沉积物中鱼类的保存质量取决于某些物理和化学条件，并且这些档案在世界范围内很少见。东非裂谷系统东部分支内的肯尼亚的Tugen Hills中的中新世古洛雷克沉积物提供了中新世中部和上层中的鱼石化石（Teleostei）的独特，下连续的记录，这在很大程度上没有探索。这就提出了一个问题，即是否可以使用这种特殊的鱼类化石记录来更好地了解东非裂谷系统内的中新世环境和气候变化。但是，该项目被设计为试点项目，因为在该项目的准备阶段，我无法使用鱼石化石。它着重于杜松山露头的鱼石化石的系统收集，这些丘陵露头有丰富的鱼石化石，以及对多样性的初步调查，至少一直延伸到家庭一级。与已经活跃在Tugen Hills的法国研究人员的合作（他们对哺乳动物的研究感兴趣）为该试点项目提供了完美的背景。如果鱼化石像预期的那样丰富和多样化，则将设计一个随访项目，以进一步评估图根山（Tugen Hills）化石鱼类组合提供的古生态信息。