The Shackleton Glacier Area: Floristics, Biostratigraphy and Paleoclimate

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9315353 Taylor This award supports a paleobotanical study of Permian and Triassic sedimentary rocks in the Shackleton Glacier portion of the Central Transantarctic Mountains. This project represents a continuation of research to elucidate the paleobiology and biostratigraphy of the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic of Antarctic. The Shackleton Glacier region is known to have abundant fossil plants but there has never been an attempt to systematically collect and describe the flora in detail. Fossils that have been reported include fossil forests, permineralized peat deposits, compression/impression floras, and palynomorphs (pollen). This award provides support for collection, description, and paleoenvironmental interpretation of these Permian and Triassic plant fossils. These fossils, including analysis of tree rings, is an essential component of paleoenvironmental reconstructions for the Permo-Triassic and provides an important method of testing paleoclimatic models for the region. ***