U.S.-Australia Cooperative Research in Marine Geochemistry: The Phosphate Research Project (PHOSREP)

除首席研究员外，三位资深美国科学家S. R. Riggs（东卡罗莱纳大学）、R. E. Garrison（加州大学圣克鲁斯分校）和J. A. McKenzie（佛罗里达大学）将与堪培拉矿产资源局大陆地质处主任R. J. Cook博士合作。他和同事们在一个项目中进行了合作，该项目旨在提高我们对澳大利亚各种陆地和近海地区沉积磷酸盐矿床的性质和起源的了解。这一知识可能有助于解释在地质时期主要的化学和生物变化是如何发生的。美国和澳大利亚的科学家将通过沉积学和地球化学研究方法，在现场和实验室对澳大利亚的磷矿进行研究。这些问题包括：磷酸盐是如何沉淀形成磷矿的；磷矿生物群是否独特；磷质岩是在什么沉积条件下形成的；磷质岩石的风化过程涉及哪些化学/生化过程；此外，在形成磷矿的过程中，是否会随着时间的推移而发生变化，这些问题也将得到解决。澳大利亚和美国的研究小组在这项研究中具有互补的专业知识，双方都将从协同方法中受益。该项目实现了该计划的目标，即支持对澳大利亚和美国都有益的科学研究，并为美国科学家提供接触澳大利亚同事的研究环境和专业知识的机会。这里提出的研究扩展了研究人员在其他NSF资助下进行的研究（例如，OCE 85-20724），包括澳大利亚磷酸盐的_数据，并使用澳大利亚可用的各种跨学科技术。该奖项为参与这项工作的四名高级研究人员每人提供一次前往澳大利亚的旅费和生活费。拟议的研究结果应有助于增进对地球演化过程的了解。此外，澳大利亚和美国的研究人员将受益于将沉积学、古生物学、海洋学、微生物生态学和遥感等各种实验技术引入这类问题。该项目将在《澳大利亚和美国科学技术合作协定》的支持下进行。

Three senior U.S. scientists, S. R. Riggs (East Carolina University), R. E. Garrison (U.C. Santa Cruz), and J. A. McKenzie (University of Florida), in addition to the principal investigator, will work with Dr. R. J. Cook, Chief of the Division of Continental Geology of the Bureau of Mineral Resources in Canberra, and colleagues in a project aimed at increasing our understanding of the nature and origin of sedimentary phosphate deposits in various on- and off-shore areas of Australia. This knowledge may shed light on the use of phosphorites to explain how major chemical and biological changes occur through geologic time. Phosphate deposits in Australia will be studied both in the field and in the laboratory through sedimentological and geochemical research methods jointly by the U.S. and Australian scientists. Such questions as: how phosphates are precipitated to form phosphorites; whether the biota of phosporites is unique; under what depositional conditions phosphorites are formed; what chemical/biochemical processes are involved in the weathering of phosphorites; and, whether the processes involved in the formation of phosphorite have varied over time, will be addressed. The Australian and U.S. groups have complementary expertise for this study, and both sides will benefit from a synergetic approach. The project fulfills the Program's objective of supporting research of scientific benefit both to Australia and the United States, and of providing access for U.S. scientists to the research environments and expertise of their Australian colleagues. The research propsed here extends studies being conducted by the investigators under other NSF grants (e.g., OCE 85-20724), to include _ _ data on Australian phosphates, and the use of various cross- disciplinary techniques available in Australia. This award provides travel and subsistence for one trip to Australia for each of the four senior researchers involved in the work. Results of the proposed research should lead to increased understanding of the processes involved in the evolution of the earth. In addition, both Australian and U.S. investigators will benefit from bringing the varied experimental techniques of sedimentology, paleobiology, oceanography, microbial ecology, and remote sensing to problems of this type. The project will take place under the aegis of the Agreement betweeen Australia and the United States for Scientific and Technical Cooperation.