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和多产的古生物区，产生了许多脊椎动物分类群的化石，包括早期人类。 中阿瓦什沉积层中发现了丰富的脊椎动物化石，为研究非洲晚第三纪脊椎动物演化提供了重要资料。 该项目代表了对中阿瓦什谷中新世末期脊椎动物群的详细研究。 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至关重要。 氩/氩和古地磁数据，目前正在产生这些存款建立一个可靠的年代地层学中阿瓦什，从而完善生物年代学的其他同时代的非洲晚中新世地区的放射性测年不存在。 这项研究的结果将阐明古生物地理学、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