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体系的动物沉积关系和生物成因沉积结构。重点将是解释在新西兰和丹麦的远洋沉积物中保存的环境控制的痕迹化石关联、技术结构（痕迹化石的发生、保存、变形和并列模式）和古行为学（动物行为的化石证据）。古沉积物是此类研究的理想选择，因为(a)生物扰动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地区，以及(c)开放水域环境允许进行全球比较和综合。研究了晚白垩世-早第三纪南北纬北纬海域沉积的中上层灰岩和白垩岩中微量化石的岩石层结构、岩石层相和特定的动物行为学类型的异同。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。此外，还将对西南太平洋和东北大西洋附近海域的深海碳酸盐岩剖面的DSDP/ODP和商业钻探岩心进行研究。这项技术研究将提供古代远洋软泥生境中生物与基质相互关系的详细图景，也将有助于构建非热带、中纬度、外赤道海底环境中底栖生物群落的全球图景。

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.