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Exploration for Fossil Primates in the Carbonatites of Namibia

纳米比亚碳酸岩中灵长类化石的勘探

基本信息

批准号：
9714589
负责人：
Frederick Grine
金额：
$ 1.98万
依托单位：
SUNY at Stony Brook
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=9714589&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Exploration Fossil Primates Carbonatites Namibia

项目摘要

Fossil bones of primates, including the remains of several species that are closely related to the human lineage, have been recovered from a number of sites in South Africa. Fossils such as these, however, are very poorly known from other areas of southern Africa (e.g., Botswana, Angola, and Namibia). Almost all the fossils from these sites accumulated in karst caves that had formed in the limestones that outcrop in South Africa, Botswana, Angola and Namibia. These limestone caves have yielded only a few fossilized primate bones. However, there are a number of very old volcanic intrusives in Namibi, and the chemical composition of these rocks makes them equally susceptible to cave formation through water dissolution. Eleven carbonatite intrusives have been identified throughout Namibia. Fossils dating from about 100 thousand to some 2.5 million years ago have been discovered in two karst cave systems that formed in one of these intrusives. This project will explore the remaining ten carbonatites in Namibia to determine whether they also contain fossiliferous cave sediments of Cenozoic age. In particular, it is hoped that additional sites that may contain fossil primate bones will be identified by this survey. Any such fossils will add significantly to our understanding of primate evolution and paleoecology in Africa.

在南非的一些地点发现了灵长类动物的化石，包括与人类血统密切相关的几个物种的遗骸。然而，像这样的化石在南部非洲的其他地区却知之甚少（例如，博茨瓦纳、安哥拉和纳米比亚）。几乎所有来自这些遗址的化石都聚集在喀斯特洞穴中，这些洞穴形成于南非、博茨瓦纳、安哥拉和纳米比亚露出地面的石灰岩中。这些石灰岩洞穴中只发现了几具化石灵长类动物的骨骼。然而，在纳米比有许多非常古老的火山侵入岩，这些岩石的化学成分使它们同样容易通过水溶解形成洞穴。在纳米比亚全境已发现11个碳酸岩侵入体。在其中一个侵入岩中形成的两个岩溶洞穴系统中发现了大约10万到250万年前的化石。该项目将探索纳米比亚剩余的10块碳酸岩，以确定它们是否也含有新生代的洞穴沉积物。特别是，希望通过这次调查能够确定更多可能含有灵长类动物骨骼化石的地点。任何这样的化石都将大大增加我们对非洲灵长类进化和古生态学的理解。