Paleontogical and Geological Survey of Tertiary Sediments in Western Ethiopia

该项目将在埃塞俄比亚西部进行古生物学和地质调查，以寻找含有灵长类动物、哺乳动物、低等脊椎动物和植物化石遗骸的矿床，这些化石对重建非洲灵长类动物和人类进化的历史至关重要。埃塞俄比亚以其丰富的化石记录而闻名，这些化石记录了人类早期的进化史，但所有这些化石证据都局限于埃塞俄比亚中东部到南部的裂谷。在这里，我们将把重点放在埃塞俄比亚西部，这是一个以前从未研究过含化石矿床的地区。据了解，该地区的沉积物和火山岩的年龄大约在1000万年到4000多万年之间，这些沉积物很可能含有化石。这是灵长类动物和人类进化的关键时期。外地工作可能集中的领域将由利用卫星图像进行专题测绘的遥感来确定。野外工作将集中在这些地区勘探和回收化石，并详细说明该地区的地质历史。

This project will conduct paleontological and geological surveys of western Ethiopia in order to prospect for deposits that contain the remains of fossil primates, mammals, lower vertebrates, and plants that are of critical importance for reconstructing the history of primate and human evolution in Africa. Ethiopia is well known for its rich fossil record that documents the early history of hominid evolution, but all of this fossil evidence is restricted to the Ethiopian Rift Valley in the east-central to southern portion of the country. Here we will focus efforts in western Ethiopia, an area that has never before been examined for fossil bearing deposits. Sediments and volcanic rocks dating from about one to over 40 million years in age are known to occur in this region, and it is likely that these sediments contain fossils. This is a critical period of time for primate and human evolution. Likely areas for focusing the field efforts will be determined by remote sensing using thematic mapping with satellite imagery. Field work will concentrate on these areas for prospecting and recovering fossils, and detailing the geological history of the region.