Reconstructing Rivers: Interpreting the Cretaceous Paleo-environment of the Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah - REU Site

重建河流：解释犹他州雪松山地层的白垩纪古环境 - REU Site

• 批准号: 0244188
• 负责人: Julie Maxson
• 金额: $ 23.79万
• 依托单位: Gustavus Adolphus College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-05-15 至 2006-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0244188&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Reconstructing; Rivers; Interpreting; Cretaceous; Paleo

This eight-week project, to be hosted by Gustavus Adolphus College, will provide participants with an exceptional opportunity to contribute to timely research in Sedimentary Geology. Eight undergraduate students, two student Teaching Assistants, and the PI will investigate, through field research, the sedimentary history of fossil-bearing Lower Cretaceous strata of the Cedar Mountain Formation (CMF) in northeast and east central Utah. In order to gain a better understanding of the processes of distribution and deposition of the CMF, participants will design and develop experiments in fluvial sedimentology at the University of Minnesota's Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory.Recent discoveries of dinosaur fossil localities in the CMF have led paleontologists to recognize that large sauropods, previously thought to be extinct in North America in mid-Cretaceious time, were still extant. Currently, five academic and governmental research groups have fossil excavations and geochronologic study underway. Yet sedimentologic analysis, especially facies interpretation to characterize dinosaur habitats and fluvial processes, is relatively undeveloped in the CMF. The proposed project will build on the PI's four-year history of student-centered research in and around Dinosaur Naitonal Monument, which has included an REU project during summer 2002. During summer 2003, the project will be geographically expanded to include CMF outcrops in east central Utah and in Arches National Monument.This research project will progressively develop students' research skills toward an understanding and environmental interpretation of the CMF. The results of this project will be highly significant to North American paleontologists, and will thus provide student participants with an immediate sense of the relevance of their research. Throughout the program, the PI and visiting scientists will develop students' thinking about observation, interpretation, and experimentation. As in the past, the PI will recruit with the explicit goal of achieving diversity in gender, geographic distribution, and minority status of participants.

这个为期八周的项目将由古斯塔夫·阿道夫学院主办，将为参与者提供一个难得的机会，为沉积地质学的及时研究做出贡献。 八名本科生，两名学生助教，和PI将调查，通过实地研究，在东北部和东中部犹他州的雪松山组（CMF）化石承载下白垩纪地层的沉积历史。 为了更好地了解CMF的分布和沉积过程，参与者将在明尼苏达大学圣安东尼福尔斯实验室设计和开发河流沉积学实验。最近在CMF中发现的恐龙化石使古生物学家认识到，以前被认为在北美灭绝的大型蜥脚类动物仍然存在。 目前，五个学术和政府研究小组正在进行化石发掘和地质年代学研究。 然而，沉积学分析，特别是相解释，以描述恐龙栖息地和河流过程，是相对不发达的CMF。 拟议的项目将建立在PI的四年历史的学生为中心的研究和周围的恐龙国家纪念碑，其中包括一个REU项目在2002年夏天。 在2003年夏天，该项目将扩大地理范围，包括犹他州中东部和拱门国家纪念碑的CMF露头。该研究项目将逐步培养学生的研究技能，以理解和解释CMF的环境。 这个项目的结果将是非常重要的北美古生物学家，因此将提供学生参与者与他们的研究的相关性的直接意义。 在整个计划中，PI和访问科学家将培养学生对观察，解释和实验的思考。 与过去一样，PI将以实现参与者的性别、地理分布和少数民族地位的多样性为明确目标进行招募。