Palaeontological pilot survey of unstudied sediments in the Chiwondo Beds, Northern Malawi

对马拉维北部 Chiwondo 地层未经研究的沉积物进行古生物学试点调查

• 批准号: 495513403
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Ottmar Kullmer
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Abteilung Paläoanthropologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2020-12-31 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/495513403?language=en
• 关键词: Palaeontological; pilot; survey; unstudied; sediments

With the proposed project we plan a paleontological exploration in Plio-Pleistocene sedimentary deposits in the hominin-bearing "Chiwondo Beds" in northern Malawi. During a three-week field campaign, we aim to conduct a systematic survey of the sedimentary surface in three geographically restricted areas that have not been studied before, in order to recover additional fossil vertebrate remains and assess the potential for further paleontological fieldwork.The content of the project focuses on the role of the southeastern African Malawi Rift as an expansion and migration corridor between eastern and southern African faunas in the Plio-Pleistocene during the emergence of the genus Homo.Given the particular geographic location between the famous hominin sites in eastern Africa and South Africa, the extensive geologic time period, and the rare Homo and Paranthropus remains already attested, a comprehensive understanding of the biostratigraphy in the sedimentary sequence is important. Because the Chiwondo Beds sediments have a fairly low fossil density compared to other known sites in the East African Rift System, we plan to explore as much sediment surface as possible in the targeted three weeks. This will allow us to draw a comprehensive picture of the fossil potential from the western rift shoulder to the shore of present-day Lake Malawi.The main goal is to increase the number of identifiable vertebrate fossils in their stratigraphic context to allow faunal reconstruction of even the older sedimentary Unit 2 compared to the better known younger Chiwondo Beds faunas from Unit 3 sediments.We focus exclusively on areas of the Chiwondo Beds that have never been systematically studied before. Sediments exposed in the proposed study areas are expected to contain additional fossil vertebrate remains from the stratigraphically oldest deposits older than 3.75 Ma. A more complete knowledge of the large mammal faunal composition of Unit 2 of the Chiwondo Beds is essential to more detailed trace the temporal changes in environmental conditions toward somewhat drier habitats, as evidenced in the later Pliocene with the first appearance of the genus Homo around 2.5 Ma.

通过拟议的项目，我们计划对马拉维北部人类居住的“Chiwondo Beds”中的上里奥-更新世沉积矿床进行古生物学勘探。在为期三周的野外活动中，我们的目标是对三个以前从未研究过的地理限制区域的沉积表面进行系统调查，以恢复更多的脊椎动物化石遗骸并评估进一步古生物学野外工作的潜力。内容该项目的重点是非洲东南部马拉维裂谷在上里奥-更新世人属出现期间作为东部和南部非洲动物区系之间的扩张和迁徙走廊的作用。东非和南非著名古人类遗址之间的地理位置、广泛的地质时期以及已得到证实的稀有人属和傍人遗骸，全面了解沉积序列中的生物地层学具有重要意义。由于与东非裂谷系统其他已知地点相比，Chiwondo 层沉积物的化石密度相当低，因此我们计划在目标三周内探索尽可能多的沉积物表面。这将使我们能够全面了解从西部裂肩到当今马拉维湖岸边的化石潜力。主要目标是增加地层背景中可识别的脊椎动物化石的数量，以便能够对甚至是将较古老的沉积单元 2 与来自单元 3 沉积物的更为人所知的较年轻的 Chiwondo 床动物群进行比较。我们专门关注以前从未系统研究过的 Chiwondo 床区域。拟议研究区域暴露的沉积物预计将包含来自年龄超过 3.75 Ma 的地层最古老沉积物的更多脊椎动物化石遗骸。更完整地了解 Chiwondo Beds 2 单元的大型哺乳动物动物群组成对于更详细地追踪环境条件向稍微干燥的栖息地的时间变化至关重要，这一点在上新世晚期，人属在 2.5 左右首次出现就得到了证明。妈。