Vertebrate Paleontology and Sedimentology of the CynognathusZone (late Early Triassic), Beardmore Glacier Region, Antarctica

该奖项支持奥古斯塔纳学院和俄亥俄州立大学的研究人员对南极比尔德莫尔冰川地区一个新的脊椎动物地区进行脊椎动物古生物学和沉积学的联合研究，该地区在1985-86年野外季节的最后几天发现了早三叠纪晚期的动物群，包括大量的Cynognathus带的两栖动物和爬行动物。这些化石是沿着一条古代河道的表面发现的，这条河道是由最近的侵蚀作用挖掘出来的。进一步的收集将大大增加这一动物群的分类群数量。丰富的化石和理想的沉积物暴露将使该小组能够进行地层学研究，重建早三叠世晚期脊椎动物群落的古生态/环境条件，并研究与冈瓦纳其他大陆的地层关系。

This award supports investigators from Augustana College and Ohio State University in a joint vertebrate paleontologic- sedimentologic study of a new vertebrate locality in the Beardmore Glacier region of Anarctica where a late Early Triassic fauna, including abundant amphibians and reptiles of he Cynognathus Zone, was found during the final days of the 1985-86 field season. The fossils are found along the surface of an ancient stream channel, which has been exhumed by recent erosion. Further collecting will greatly enlarge the numbers of taxa in this fauna. The abundance of fossils and the ideal exposure of the sediments in which they occur will permit the group to carry out taphonomic studies, reconstruct the paleoecologic/environmental conditions for the late Early Triassic vertebrate community, and work out stratigraphic relations with other Gondwana continents.