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

论文研究：埃塞俄比亚中阿瓦什河谷晚中新世古生物学：动物群描述、分析和解释

• 批准号: 9714432
• 负责人: Tim White
• 金额: $ 1.19万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1998
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1998-01-01 至 1999-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9714432&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Late; Miocene; Paleontology

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

埃塞俄比亚的中阿瓦什地区一直是一个非常重要和多产的古生物学地区，产生了许多脊椎动物分类群的化石遗骸，包括早期人科动物。中阿瓦什沉积中大量的脊椎动物化石为研究非洲新近纪晚期脊椎动物演化提供了重要的资料。这个项目代表了对中阿瓦什山谷中新世末期脊椎动物动物群的详细研究。这些比较分析的结果对我们了解非洲晚中新世脊椎动物的历史是至关重要的。目前从这些沉积物中产生的氩气/氩气和古地磁数据正在为中阿瓦什地区建立可靠的年代地层，从而完善了其他同时期非洲晚中新世地区的生物年代学，这些地区没有放射性测年法。研究结果将阐明古人类分化时期的古生物地理、古环境和动物多样性