Field Workshop for Interdisciplinary Earth Science Investigations in Mongolia

9630142 Fowell中亚在第四纪古气候数据库中是一个相当大的空白，因为从该地区收集的沉积物岩心相对较少。由于越来越需要陆地气候变化和生态系统演化的详细记录，这一点尤其令人遗憾。从海洋和冰盖中已经可以获得高分辨率的气候数据，为了进一步了解全球气候变化，比较的大陆记录是必要的。蒙古位于亚洲大陆的内陆，受到西伯利亚和印度-非洲季风的季节性相互作用的影响，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，蒙古是古气候研究的天然野外实验室，该国的气候记录在阐明季风环流、冰川作用、轨道强迫、构造隆起、陆地气候变化和进化速度之间的关系方面具有独特的潜力。作为对蒙古气候史进行深入研究的前奏，1996年秋季将在蒙古举行一次计划会议和实地研讨会，由十位对古气候、古生物学和全球变化有研究兴趣的美国科学家参加。1995年10月，在南卡罗莱纳举行的由美国国家科学基金会赞助的蒙古研究研讨会上，这十位科学家都对参加为期一个月的蒙古考察之旅表示了浓厚的兴趣。自10月的研讨会以来，多学科实地研究项目的计划已经迅速推进，以至于美国和蒙古科学家之间的成果和思想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和收集初步样品，以消除远程地点选择的困难和风险。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的成员举行为期五天的会议，交换信息并讨论潜在项目的后勤问题。会议结束后，他们将对库布苏古尔湖进行为期两周的考察，沿途会停下来考察冰川特征、黄土沉积物以及适合采集短芯的浅湖或沼泽。Khubsugul被选为实地考察的目的地，以便从湖岸和附近的池塘收集用于初步孢粉学、古地磁和碳同位素分析的短沉积物岩心。此外，Khubsugul之行旨在确定大型取芯项目的可行性，该项目旨在从中亚湖盆提取和扩展古气候记录。＊＊＊

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. ***