Comparative Ichnology of Pelagic Limestone and Chalk, New Zealand and Northern Europe

PI将研究陆架-海和深海环境中古碳酸盐系统的动物沉积关系和生物成因沉积结构。重点将解释新西兰和丹麦远洋沉积物中保存的环境控制的遗迹化石组合、遗迹组构(遗迹化石的产状、保存、变形和并置的模式)和古行为学(动物行为的化石证据)。远洋沉积物是这类研究的理想选择，因为(A)生物扰动速率通常远远超过沉积速率，(B)远洋淤泥发生在远离大陆沉积物流入直接扰动的区域，以及(C)开放水域环境允许进行全球比较和综合。南半球和北半球中纬度北部海域晚白垩世和早第三纪沉积的远洋石灰岩和白垩岩中遗迹化石的遗迹组构、遗迹相和特定生物类型的异同将被记录下来。这项工作将集中在新西兰南岛的马斯特里赫特-渐新世阿穆里石灰岩和丹麦的马斯特里赫特-古新世白垩岩上。此外，还将检查来自西南太平洋和大西洋东北部附近地点的深海碳酸盐岩段的DSDP/ODP值和商业钻芯。这项生物研究将提供古代远洋淤泥生境中生物-底物相互关系的详细图景，并将有助于构建非热带、中纬度、表棘式海底环境中内底栖动物群落的全球图景。

PI will investigate the animal sediment relations and biogenic sedimentary structures of palagic carbonate systems in both shelf-sea and deep-sea settings. Emphasis will be on interpreting the environmentally controlled trace fossil associations, ichnofabrics (modes of occurrence, preservation, deformation and juxtaposition of trace fossils) and paleoethology (fossilized evidence of animal behavior) preserved in pelagic deposits in New Zealand and Denmark. Palagic sediment is ideal for such studies, because (a) bioturbation rates typically far exceed depositional rates, (b) pelagic ooze occurs in regimes far removed from direct perturbations of continental sediment influx, and (c) the open-water setting allows for global comparisons and synthesis. Similarities and differences of ichnofabric, ichnofacies and particular ethologic types of trace fossils will be documented in pelagic limestone and chalk deposited in mid-latitude boreal seas of the Southern and Northern Hemispheres during Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary time. The work will focus on the Maastrichtian-Oligocene Amuri Limestone on the South Island of New Zealand and Maastrichtian-Paleocene chalk in Denmark. In addition, DSDP/ODP and commercial drill cores of deep-sea carbonate sections from nearby sites in the southwestern Pacific and northeastern Atlantic will be examined. This ichnologic research will provide a detailed picture of organism-substrate interrelationships in ancient pelagic ooze habitats, and it also will allow construction of a global picture of endobenthic communities in non-tropical, mid-latitude, epicratonic sea-bottom environments.