Diatom Biostratigraphy and Paleoenvoronmental History of Cape Roberts Cores

该奖项支持一个项目，以表征罗伯茨角项目（CRP）回收的岩心中的硅藻化石。CRP是国际南极地球科学界的一个主要项目，旨在对晚白垩纪至古近纪（3000万至1亿年前）的南极大陆边缘地层进行采样。钻井作业将包括在两个钻井季节中，在罗斯海西部维多利亚地盆地侧翼的四个地点的海冰平台上连续取心。这个特别的项目包括对罗伯茨角岩心的硅质微化石进行初步的野外古生物分析。核心部分将被运送到克雷科学与工程中心进行即时分析。硅藻和其他硅质微化石将在钻井作业中提供快速的年龄和古环境信息。每个季节将包括准备一份基于硅质微化石的初步生物地层/古环境报告。该报告将成为CRP初始报告卷的一部分，该卷将包括其他微化石群、岩石地层学、磁地层学和其他分析的初步结果。对CRP岩心中硅藻和其他硅质微化石的分析将极大地有助于为南部高纬度地区这一鲜为人知的区间建立一个完整的生物地层学。硅藻将提供有关水深、初级生产力、海冰有无等环境变化的证据。CRP岩心将为研究硅藻对强极地季节性和硅藻进化的适应提供一个极好的机会。通过将CRP研究与正在进行的北极地层古近系硅质微化石研究（例如，海洋钻探计划第151条）相结合，他们还将提供获得古近系高纬度浮游植物进化的两极视角的可能性。

This award supports a project to characterize the diatom fossils in drill core recovered by the Cape Roberts Project (CRP). The CRP is a major program within the international Antarctic earth science community, designed to sample Antarctic continental margin strata of late Cretaceous through Paleogene age (30 million to 100 million years ago). Drilling operations will include continuous coring from a sea ice platform at four sites on the flank of the Victoria Land basin in the western Ross Sea, during two drilling seasons. This particular project involves initial field-based paleontologic analysis of siliceous microfossils in Cape Roberts cores. Core sections will be ferried to the Crary Science and Engineering Center for immediate analysis. Diatoms and other siliceous microfossils will provide rapid age and paleoenvironmental information during drilling operations. Each season will include preparation of a preliminary biostratigraphic/paleoenvironmental report based on siliceous microfossils. This report will become part of the CRP Initial Reports volume, which will include the preliminary results from other microfossil groups, lithostratigraphic, magnetostratigraphic, and other analyses. Analysis of diatoms and other siliceous microfossils in CRP cores will greatly aid in the development of an integrated biostratigraphy for this poorly-known interval in the southern high latitudes. Diatoms will provide evidence of environmental changes in water depth, primary productivity, presence/absence of sea ice, et cetera. CRP cores will provide an excellent opportunity to study adaptation of diatoms to strong polar seasonality and diatom evolution. They will also offer the possibility of gaining a bipolar perspective on Paleogene high latitude phytoplankton evolution, by integrating CRP studies with ongoing studies of Paleogene siliceous microfossils in Arctic strata (for example, Ocean Drilling Program Leg 151).