Dissertation Research: Late Miocene and Pliocene Hominoid Paleoecology, Tugen Hills, Kenya

东非裂谷的巴林戈盆地一直是世界上发现400-1400万年前重要时期(Mya)古人类化石最多的地区之一。重建这一时期的古环境，对于确定是否应该将开放景观的开发视为这一时期人类历史上的关键驱动机制具有重要意义。古栖息地重建可以为人科动物的分化和随后的辐射提供直接原因。特别是，沿巴林戈湖以西图根山东侧暴露的晚中新世和上新世沉积产生了广泛的脊椎动物化石组合，包括在这一时间范围内已知的11个明确的非洲原始人标本中的6个。这些暴露提供了一个独特的机会，可以建立一个详细的环境-生态背景，在这个背景下，可以评估人类化石随时间的变化。初步的同位素数据和之前对化石动物群的分析表明，图根山的栖息地在600万至900万之间发生了重大变化。这项研究将提供从2-12百万年层位收集的高分辨率地层、地球化学和古生物数据，用于重建巴林戈盆地的古生境和古群落，并更准确地确定巴林戈盆地环境变化的时间和性质。

The Baringo Basin in the Rift Valley of East Africa has been one of the most productive areas in the world for finding hominoid fossils from the important period of 4-14 million years ago (mya). Reconstructing paleoenvironments for this period is highly relevant to determining whether development of open landscapes should be considered a pivotal driving mechanism during this period in human history. Paleohabitat reconstruction can provide proximate causes for divergence and subsequent radiation of the Hominidae. In particular, Late Miocene and Pliocene sediments exposed along the eastern flanks of the Tugen Hills, west of Lake Baringo, have yielded extensive fossil vertebrate assemblages including 6 of the 11 unequivocal hominoid specimens known from Africa in this time range. These exposures provide a unique opportunity to establish a detailed environmental-ecological context in which change in human fossils over time may be assessed. Preliminary isotopic data and previous analyses of fossil fauna suggest major alteration of the Tugen Hills habitat between 6 mya and 9 mya. This research will provide high resolution stratigraphic, geochemical, and paleontologic data collected from horizons in the 2-12 mya interval which will be used to reconstruct aspects of paleohabitat and paleocommunity and to determine more precisely the timing and nature of environmental change in the Baringo Basin.