Field Workshop for Interdisciplinary Earth Science Investigations in Mongolia

9630142福厄尔中亚在第四纪古气候数据库中有相当大的差距，因为从世界这一地区采集的沉积物岩芯相对较少。这尤其令人遗憾，因为对陆地气候变化和生态系统演变的详细记录的需求日益增长。已经可以从海洋和冰盖获得高分辨率的气候数据，为了进一步了解全球气候变化，有必要进行可比较的大陆记录。蒙古位于亚洲大陆的内陆，受到西伯利亚季风和印度-非洲季风的季节性相互作用，那里是许多特有鱼类和昆虫的家园，也是保存极为完好的中、新生代脊椎动物化石的所在地。因此，蒙古是研究古气候的天然野外实验室，该国的气候记录具有独特的潜力来阐明季风环流、冰川作用、轨道强迫、构造抬升、陆地气候变化和演化速度之间的关系。作为深入研究蒙古气候历史的前奏，10名对古气候、古生物学和全球变化感兴趣的美国科学家将于1996年秋季在蒙古举行规划会议和实地研讨会。1995年10月，在南卡罗来纳州举行的一次由美国国家科学基金会赞助的蒙古研究研讨会上，所有10名科学家都表达了参加为期一个月的蒙古考察之旅的浓厚兴趣。自10月份的研讨会以来，多学科实地研究项目的计划进展迅速，美国和蒙古科学家之间的成果和想法交流已成为未来项目成功的关键。除了规划会议和研讨会外，还将访问可能的实地地点并收集初步样本，以消除远程地点选择的困难和风险。这次计划会议将于1996年8月在乌兰巴托举行，在此期间，美国科学家将与蒙古科学院成员举行为期5天的会议，交换信息并讨论潜在项目的后勤问题。会议结束后，将对库布苏古尔湖进行为期两周的探险，沿途停下来调查冰川地貌、黄土沉积和适合收集短岩芯的浅水湖泊或沼泽。Khubsugul被选为实地考察的目的地，这样就可以从湖岸和附近的池塘收集用于初步孢粉、古地磁和碳同位素分析的短沉积物岩芯。此外，Khubsugul之行的目的是确定一个大规模取心项目的可行性，该项目旨在从这个中亚湖盆提取并延长古气候记录。***

9630142 Fowell Central Asia represents a sizable gap in Quaternary paleoclimate databases because relatively few sediment cores have been collected from this part of the world. This is particularly unfortunate due to the growing need for detailed records of terrestrial climate change and ecosystem evolution. High-resolution climate data are already available from oceans and ice sheets, and comparable continental records are necessary in order to further understanding of global climate changes. Located in the interior of the Asian continent, Mongolia is subject to the seasonal interplay of the Siberian and Indian-African monsoons, home to numerous endemic species of fish and insects, and the site of exceptionally well preserved Mesozoic and Cenozoic vertebrate fossils. Mongolia is thus a natural field laboratory for paleoclimate research, and climate records from this country have unique potential to elucidate relationships between monsoonal circulation, glaciation, orbital forcing, tectonic uplift, terrestrial climate change, and rates of evolution. As a prelude to in-depth studies of Mongolian climate history, a planning meeting and field workshop for ten U.S. scientists with research interests in paleoclimate, paleontology, and global change will be held in Mongolia in the fall of 1996. During a recent NSF- sponsored workshop on Mongolian research held in South Carolina during October of 1995, all ten of these scientists expressed a keen interest in attending a one-month reconnaissance trip to Mongolia. Since the October workshop, plans for multidisciplinary field-based research projects have advanced rapidly to the point where an exchange of results and ideas between U.S. and Mongolian scientists has become instrumental to the success of future projects. In addition to planning meetings and seminars, there will be visits to potential field sites and collection of preliminary samples in order to eliminate the difficulty and risk of remote site sel ection. The planning meeting will be held in Ulan Bator during August of 1996, during which time U.S. scientists will spend five days meeting with members of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences to exchange information and discuss logistics of potential projects. Meetings will be followed by a two-week expedition to Lake Khubsugul, with stops along the way to survey glacial features, loess deposits, and shallow lakes or bogs suitable for collection of short cores. Khubsugul has been selected as the destination of the field trip so that short sediment cores for preliminary palynological, paleomagnetic, and carbon isotope analyses may be collected from the lakeshore and from nearby ponds. Furthermore, the trip to Khubsugul is intended to ascertain the feasibility of a large-scale coring project designed to extract and extended paleoclimate record from this central Asian lake basin. ***