US-Eritrea Cooperative Research: Paleoecology and Paleoenvironmental Analysis of the Miocene Red Series

9911968Park该奖项支持阿克伦大学地质学系的Lisa E.Park博士、DePaul大学的Kevin F.Downing博士和厄立特里亚阿斯马拉大学地球科学系的Beraki Woldehaimanot博士之间为期一年的合作研究项目。东非的中新世到晚中新世的地质记录是不完整的，特别是1500万-400万年前。这段时间特别重要，因为这是原始人起源的关键和有问题的地质时期，也是全球气候急剧变化的时期。根据一项简短的初步调查，首席调查人员发现，达纳基尔裂谷中鲜有研究的红色系列沉积沉积含有来自复杂古环境序列的脊椎动物和无脊椎动物化石，其中一些沉积形成于1000-400万年前。这一实地项目预计将产生化石，这些化石将建立厄立特里亚东部达纳基尔凹陷的沉积矿床，作为研究东非中新世古生态的重要和独特的信息来源。PIS将收集和分析数据，以使他们能够为红色系列开发详细的无脊椎动物和脊椎动物化石的古生态和生物地层学记录，然后他们将使用这些记录来评估阿法尔北部晚中新世的古环境特征。通过记录红色系列沉积物的动物群变化模式，他们将寻求确定动物群变化和物种进化与当地和区域环境变化或已知的重大气候变化间隔之间的相互关系。这项研究还将提供初步的沉积学和地层学数据，这些数据将对世界上这一地质关键区域的沉积和构造历史之间的关系产生新的见解。这项合作结合了Park博士和Downing博士分别在无脊椎动物古生物学和地质古生物学和脊椎动物古生物学方面的专业知识，以及Woldehaimanot博士在构造地质学和盆地分析方面的专业知识。研究小组还将包括一名沉积学家，一名美国研究生，以及阿斯马拉大学的研究人员和学生。这项调查有望提供有关早期原始人栖息地的关键古生态信息。这些结果还可能有助于理解东非阿法尔地区北部中中新世发生的构造、构造地质学、地质年代学、气候学和人类生态事件。国际项目部和地球科学部共同为该项目提供资金。

9911968ParkThis award supports a one-year collaborative research project among Dr. Lisa E. Park, of the Department of Geology at the University of Akron; Dr. Kevin F. Downing, from DePaul University; and Dr. Beraki Woldehaimanot, of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Asmara in Eritrea.The middle to late Miocene geologic record for East Africa is incomplete, especially for the period spanning 15 - 4 million years ago. This time period is particularly important because it is a pivotal and problematic geological interval for hominid origins, and it is also a time of dramatic global climate change. Based on a brief pilot survey, the principal investigators (PIs) found that the little-researched series of sedimentary deposits, known as the Red Series, in the Danakil Rift contain vertebrate and invertebrate fossils from a complex sequence of paleoenvironments, and that some of these deposits were made 10 - 4 million years ago. This field project is expected to yield fossils that will establish the sedimentary deposits in the Eastern Danakil Depression of Eritrea as an important and unique source of information for the study of Miocene paleoecology in East Africa. The PIs will collect and analyze data to enable them to develop a detailed paleoecological and biostratigraphic record for invertebrate and vertebrate fossils for the Red Series, which they will then use to assess the character of northern Afar paleoenvironments during the Late Miocene. By documenting patterns of faunal change through the Red Series deposits, they will seek to determine the interrelationship of faunal change and species evolution to local and regional environmental shifts or known intervals of significant climate change. The study will also provide the initial sedimentologial and stratigraphic data that should yield new insights into the relationship between deposition and the tectonic history of this geologically critical region of the world. The collaboration combines the expertise of Drs. Park and Downing, invertebrate paleontology and geological and vertebrate paleontology, respectively, with Dr. Woldehaimanot's expertise in structural geology and basin analysis. The research team will also include a sedimentologist, a US graduate student, and researchers and students from the University of Asmara. This investigation is expected to provide critical paleoecological information on the habitat of early hominids. The results also have potential applications to aid in understanding the tectonics, structural geology, geochronology, climatology, and human ecology events that occurred during the mid-Miocene of the northern Afar Region in East Africa. The Division of International Programs and the Division of Earth Sciences are jointly providing funding for this project.