Fossiliferous Cave Breccias in South Africa

南非的化石洞穴角砾岩

• 批准号: 9104676
• 负责人: Frederick Grine
• 金额: $ 0.35万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1991
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1991-01-15 至 1991-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9104676&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Fossiliferous; Cave; Breccias; South; Africa

Africa appears to be the place in which our earliest ancestors evolved. While the original discoveries of these earliest hominids were made in South Africa, most of the recent discoveries have been in East Africa. There are nonetheless many sites in South Africa which are potential sources of fossils which could shed light on a multitude of exceptionally important questions related to the early stages of our evolution. For instance, we are uncertain as to the ages of the South African fossils known to date, their relationship to the East African materials, the numbers of species represented, the tool- manufacturing capabilities of the South Africans etc. All of these are of clear importance in elucidating human evolution. Yet, looking for fossiliferous sites is a truly risky undertaking. Sites may be searched in vain for years on end and thus programs are hesitant to invest in projects which have a limited likelihood of "paying off." The current proposal requests funds to survey a region of South Africa which is known to contain limestone deposits of the appropriate age. No systematic survey of these deposits has yet been undertaken and the PI intends to determine which breccias have indications of bearing fossils, more precise ages of the deposits. The PI has done some prior work in an area to the north and east. There are reasonable geological and paleontological reasons to think that the caves here to be investigated may prove to be fossiliferous.

非洲似乎是我们最早的祖先进化的地方。 虽然这些最早的原始人类的最初发现是在南非，但最近的大部分发现都是在东非。尽管如此，南非仍有许多遗址是化石的潜在来源，这些化石可以揭示与我们进化早期阶段相关的许多异常重要的问题。 例如，我们不确定迄今为止已知的南非化石的年龄、它们与东非材料的关系、所代表的物种数量、南非人的工具制造能力等。所有这些对于阐明人类进化都具有明显的重要性。 然而，寻找化石地点确实是一项危险的任务。 可能会连续多年徒劳地搜索地点，因此项目对于投资“回报”可能性有限的项目犹豫不决。 目前的提案要求提供资金来调查南非的一个地区，该地区已知含有适当年龄的石灰石矿床。 尚未对这些矿床进行系统调查，PI 打算确定哪些角砾岩有含有化石的迹象，以及更准确的矿床年龄。 PI 之前已在北部和东部地区完成了一些工作。 有合理的地质和古生物学理由认为这里待调查的洞穴可能含有化石。