Field Workshop for Interdisciplinary Earth Science Investigations in Mongolia

小行星9630142 中亚代表了第四纪古气候数据库中的一个相当大的差距，因为相对较少的沉积物岩心已从世界的这一部分。 由于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，这一点尤其令人遗憾。 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，需要有可比的大陆记录。 蒙古位于亚洲大陆内陆，受西伯利亚和印度-非洲季风的季节性影响，是许多特有鱼类和昆虫的家园，也是保存非常完好的中生代和新生代脊椎动物化石的所在地。 因此，蒙古是一个天然的古气候研究领域的实验室，从这个国家的气候记录有独特的潜力，以阐明季风环流，冰川作用，轨道强迫，构造隆起，陆地气候变化和演变速度之间的关系。 作为蒙古气候史深入研究的前奏，1996年秋季将在蒙古举行一次有10名美国科学家参加的计划会议和实地研讨会，他们的研究兴趣是古气候、古生物学和全球变化。 1995年10月在南卡罗来纳州举行的一次由国家科学基金会赞助的蒙古研究讲习班上，所有10名科学家都表示有兴趣参加一次为期一个月的考察旅行， 蒙古国. 自10月份的研讨会以来，多学科实地研究项目的计划迅速推进，美国和蒙古科学家之间的成果和想法交流对未来项目的成功至关重要。 除了规划会议和研讨会外，还将访问潜在的实地地点并收集初步样品，以消除偏远地点选择的困难和风险。 美国科学家将于1996年8月在乌兰巴托举行为期5天的会议，与蒙古科学院的成员交换信息，讨论可能的项目的后勤问题。 会议之后将进行为期两周的胡布苏古尔湖探险，沿途沿着停留，调查冰川特征、黄土沉积物和适合收集短岩心的浅水湖泊或沼泽。 Khubsugul已被选为实地考察的目的地，以便从湖岸和附近的池塘收集短沉积物岩心进行初步的孢粉学，古地磁学和碳同位素分析。 此外，前往Khubsugul的目的是确定一个大规模的岩心项目的可行性，该项目旨在从这个中亚湖泊盆地提取和扩大古气候记录。 ***

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. ***