Paleogeography and paleoclimate of a unique Paleogene biota in arctic Canada

0124654Marincovich这项美洲计划SGER(探索研究小额赠款)奖将允许Louie Marincovich博士和一组美国和加拿大的研究人员于2001年7月在埃尔斯米尔岛中西部的Bay Fiord附近进行为期三周的旅行，作为一项先导研究，将首次协调几名专家的努力，以破译该地区独特生物群的古生物地理和古气候重要性。该奖项将由国际项目部和NSF地质与古生物学项目共同支持。位于加拿大北部埃尔斯米尔岛(北纬78-79度)的尤里卡音响集团的岩石记录了一个不同寻常的时期，5000-6000万年前，当时北极高地是鳄鱼、巨型乌龟、各种哺乳动物(包括灵长类动物和犀牛)、林地和广阔的低地沼泽的家园。软体动物在陆地和邻近温暖的海洋中茁壮成长。尽管总体上鲜为人知，但这些多样化和丰富的化石是地球早期新生代北极气候唯一保存完好的记录，并构成了这个时代已知的最北端的海洋和陆地生物群。这些动植物生活在一个灭绝的环境中，结合了暖温带气候和夏季明媚和冬季黑暗的北极光照制度。这种丰富多彩的新生代早期海洋生物和陆地生物群在如此高纬度地区的存在，可能构成了北极最深刻的古生物之谜。对脊椎动物、植物和软体动物化石的研究将增加我们对这一丰富生物群的了解，完善其年龄，为长期切断的欧洲-北美陆地联系提供洞察，并破译过去6500万年来最温暖的全球气候的极地表达。

0124654MarincovichThis Americas Program SGER (Small Grants for Exploratory Research) award will allow Dr. Louie Marincovich and a group of U.S. and Canadian researchers to undertake a three-week trip in July 2001, near Bay Fiord in west-central Ellesmere Island, as a pilot study that will, for the first time, coordinate the efforts of several specialists to decipher the paleobiogeographic and paleoclimatic importance of the unique biota of this area. The award will be jointly supported between the Division of International Programs and the Geology and Paleontology Program of NSF.Rocks of the Eureka Sound Group on Ellesmere Island, northern Canada (78-79 degree N latitude), record an unusual time, 50-60 million years ago, when the high Arctic was home to alligators, giant tortoises, diverse mammals, (including primates and rhinoceroses), woodlands and vast lowland swamps. Mollusks thrived on land and in the adjacent warm ocean. Although little-known overall, these diverse and abundant fossils are the only well-preserved record of the Earth's early Cenozoic arctic climate, and comprise the northernmost known marine and terrestrial biota of this age These animals and plants lived in an extinct environment, combining a warm-temperate climate with an arctic light regime of bright summers and dark winters. The presence of this diverse and abundant early Cenozoic marine and terrestrial biota at such high latitudes comprises what may be the most profound paleontological mystery in the Arctic. Studying the fossil vertebrates, plants and mollusks will increase our understanding of this rich biota, refine its age, provide insights into long-severed European-North American land connections, and decipher the polar expression of the warmest global climate of the past 65 million years.***