The Evolution of Reefs and the Dispersal of Reefal Biotas: A Preliminary Synthesis Focusing on the Wrangellia Terrane

该项目集中于对美国和加拿大科迪勒兰地区的五个关键地区进行实地调查。它将提供有关晚三叠世礁和礁状碳酸盐岩演化的有意义的数据，这些礁和礁状碳酸盐岩位于北美西部的一些移位地体中。利用微相分析和对钙质藻类、有孔虫、海绵、珊瑚、软体动物和棘刺类等多种底栖动物的详细古生物学研究的双重方法，该研究将测试有关阿拉斯加、加拿大西北部和俄勒冈州生物区系扩散和增生地体运动的想法。该计划将建立在先前对秘鲁中部上三叠统动物群和碳酸盐岩的研究基础上，以及最近在爱达荷州和俄勒冈州东北部地区发现的珊瑚礁。该项目将受益于与欧洲高山工作者的合作，汇集他们的知识，将目前对北美三叠纪的了解提高到接近欧洲知名同行的水平。根据地层理论和珊瑚礁演化，结合从世界其他地区获得的数据，为生物群的扩散制定一个可行的模型，将使全球三叠纪古地理有一个总体的综合，使目前在北美的珊瑚礁研究或地层分析中都无法获得的详细分辨率成为可能。

This project concentrates on field investigations of five crucial localities within the Cordilleran region of the United States and Canada. It will provide meaningful data on the evolution of late Triassic reefs and reeflike carbonate rocks within a number of displaced terranes accreted to western North America. Utilizing the dual approach of microfacies analysis and detailed paleontological study of calcareous algae and diverse benthic faunas of foraminifers, sponges, corals, molluscs and echinoids, the research will test ideas about the dispersal of the biota and the movement of accretional terranes in Alaska, the Canadian Northwest, and Oregon. The proposed project will build upon a foundation of prior research on Upper Triassic faunas and carbonate rocks of central Peru as well as recent reef discoveries at localities in Idaho and northeastern Oregon. The project will benefit from collaboration with alpine workers of Europe, pooling their knowledge to bring current understanding of the North American Triassic to levels approaching those of well-known counterparts of Europe. The formulation of a viable model for the dispersal of the biota in light of terrane theory and reef evolution, along with integration of data acquired from other regions of the world, will permit a general synthesis for global Triassic paleogeography, allowing the type of detailed resolution not currently available in either reef studies or terrane analyses in North America.