RUI: Planning Visit to Initiate Interdisciplinary Paleoclimatic Investigations in the Peninsula de Mejillones Region, Northern Chile

9604813 EMSLIE这一美洲项目奖将资助来自科罗拉多州西部州立大学、纽约古生物研究所以及佛罗里达和新墨西哥自然历史博物馆的五名高级研究人员、两名研究生和一名本科生前往智利安托法加斯塔，与安托法加斯塔大学就智利北部海洋贝壳层古生物学进行合作的跨学科研究项目的旅费和相关费用。这次计划访问的主要目标将是深入了解暴露在海岸和阿塔卡马沙漠的海洋贝壳层和海鸟鸟粪矿床的地层序列。将从这些沉积物中选定的地层单位收集少量海洋脊椎动物和无脊椎动物样本，以确定它们对未来调查的意义。此次访问将允许在美国和智利科学家之间建立专业关系，并启动一个长期研究计划，使两国的研究人员和他们的学生受益。在厄尔尼诺南方涛动(ENSO)事件引起的洋流和温度变化的影响下，南美洲西海岸的气候今天变化很大。这些事件的影响不仅影响到人类对环境的反应，也影响到整个海洋生态系统。计划中的项目将记录这一动态区域的长期气候记录，以努力确定气候变化如何影响海洋生物群落和动物周转。***

9604813 Emslie This Americas Program award will support travel and related expenses for five senior researchers and two graduate and one undergraduate students from Western State College, Colorado, the Paleontological Research Institute, New York, and the Florida and New Mexico Museums of Natural History to travel to Antofagasta, Chile, to plan a collaborative interdisciplinary research project with the Universidad de Antofagasta on the paleontology of marine shell beds in northern Chile. The major objectives of this planning visit will be to gain insight on the stratigraphic sequence of marine shell beds and seabird guano deposits exposed on the coast and in the Atacama Desert. Small samples of marine vertebrates and invertebrates from selected stratigraphic units within these deposits will be collected to determine their significance for future investigation. The visit will allow the establishment of professional relationships between U.S. and Chilean scientists and initiation of a long- term research program that will benefit researchers and their students in both countries. Climate on the west coast of South America fluctuates considerably today under the influence of shifting ocean currents and temperatures from the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. The impact of these events not only affects human responses to the environment, but also the entire marine ecosystem. The planned project will be to document the long-term climatic record in this dynamic region in an effort to determine how climate change has influenced marine communities and faunal turnover. ***