Dissertation Research: Late Miocene Paleontology of the Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia: Faunal Description, Analysis and Interpretation

埃塞俄比亚的中阿瓦什地区是一个非常重要且多产的古生物地区，出产许多脊椎动物类群的化石遗骸，包括早期原始人类。 从阿瓦什中部沉积物中收集到的大量脊椎动物化石代表了与研究非洲新近纪后期脊椎动物进化相关的重要数据。 该项目对阿瓦什河谷中部中新世末期的脊椎动物群进行了详细研究。 这种比较分析的结果对于我们了解非洲晚中新世脊椎动物历史至关重要。 目前从这些矿床中产生的氩/氩和古地磁数据正在为中阿瓦什建立可靠的年代地层学，从而完善其他不存在辐射日期的同时代非洲晚中新世地区的生物年代学。 拟议研究的结果将阐明原始人类被认为已分化时期的古生物地理学、古环境和动物群多样性

The Middle Awash area of Ethiopia has been a remarkably important and productive paleontological region, yielding fossil remains of numerous vertebrate taxa, including early hominids. Abundant vertebrate fossils collected from Middle Awash deposits represent significant data relevant to studying the later Neogene vertebrate evolution in Africa. This project represents a detailed study of vertebrate fauna from the terminal Miocene of the Middle Awash Valley. Results from such comparative analyses are essential to our understanding of the Late Miocene vertebrate history of Africa. Argon/argon and paleomagnetic data currently being generated from these deposits are establishing a reliable chronostratigraphy for the Middle Awash, thereby refining biochronology of other contemporaneous African Late Miocene localities for which radiometric dates do not exist. The results of the proposed study will elucidate the paleobiogeography, paleoenvironment, and faunal diversity during the time at which hominids are believed to have differentiated