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

小行星9604813 该美洲计划奖将支持来自科罗拉多西部州立大学、纽约古生物研究所、佛罗里达和新墨西哥州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的旅行和相关费用，计划与安托法加斯塔大学合作开展一个关于智利北方海洋贝壳层古生物学的跨学科研究项目。 这次规划考察的主要目标是深入了解海岸和阿塔卡马沙漠暴露的海洋贝壳层和海鸟鸟粪沉积层的地层序列。 将从这些矿床内选定的地层单位收集海洋脊椎动物和无脊椎动物的小样本，以确定其对未来调查的意义。 这次访问将使美国和智利科学家之间建立专业关系，并启动一项长期研究计划，使两国的研究人员及其学生受益。 由于厄尔尼诺/南方涛动（ENSO）事件造成的洋流和温度变化的影响，南美洲西海岸的气候今天波动很大。这些事件的影响不仅影响到人类对环境的反应，而且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，以确定气候变化如何影响海洋群落和动物更替。 ***

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. ***