SGER: Environmental History of the White Nile Headwaters

SGER：白尼罗河源头的环境历史

• 批准号: 0313862
• 负责人: Kristina Beuning
• 金额: $ 3.48万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
• 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: 2003-03-15 至 2004-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0313862&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SGER; Environmental; History; White; Nile

This award, under the auspices of the Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) program, will use funds to collect a series of cores from Lake Albert in East Africa. The investigator and an undergraduate student will travel to Lake Albert and collect a suite of Kullenberg piston cores from the deepest waters of Lake Albert, ship the cores to the publicly accessible National Limnological Research Center at the University of Minnesota, develop a chronology for the cores, complete isotopic and morphological analyses of charred grass epidermis in these cores to assess the relative contribution of C3 and C4 grass species in the region, and examine shifts in grass species in conjunction with various proxies of climatic and environmental conditions.Lake Albert is located within the western Rift and is well sited to record shifts in the relative contributions of Atlantic and Indian Ocean moisture sources to the African monsoon as well as changes in the hydrologic input among the various equatorial African lakes that feed the Nile River. Previous research has shown East African lakes to be sensitive to abrupt decadal-scale variability in climate and environmental conditions and unique recorders of such change. New and well-dated sediment cores from Lake Albert could provide critical, yet missing, details of this climatic behavior. In a previous award (i.e., ATM-9912052/0196564), Beuning was funded by the Paleoclimate Program to analyze fossil grass cuticles from East African lakes to better understand changes in the relative extent of C3 and C4 grass distribution in tropical Africa over time. The award was made at a reduced budget and scope of work to allow Beuning to hone her analytical techniques for the isotopic analyses of cuticles. As a result, Beuning left Lake Albert off the list of research sites. In the intervening years, however, Beuning has successfully proved her isotopic techniques. As chance would have it, a commercial seismic expedition is being conducted on Lake Albert in the spring of 2003. Beuning has been offered several days of ship time on the RV Kilindi to core the lake. No local vessels on the lake are sufficient for coring so, the commercial expedition is an opportunity to cost-effectively leverage private and public funds to achieve a significant payoff for the international community of paleoclimtic researchers. With a small financial investment, the wider scientific community could benefit from a new and publicly accessible paleoclimatic archive.

该奖项由探索性研究小额赠款(SGER)计划赞助，将使用资金从东非的阿尔伯特湖收集一系列岩芯。研究人员和一名本科生将前往阿尔伯特湖，从阿尔伯特湖最深的水域收集一套库伦堡活塞式岩芯，将这些岩芯运往明尼苏达大学可公开访问的国家湖泊研究中心，编制岩芯的年表，对这些岩芯中烧焦的草表皮进行完整的同位素和形态分析，以评估该地区C3和C4草种的相对贡献。阿尔伯特湖位于西部裂谷内，记录了大西洋和印度洋水汽来源对非洲季风的相对贡献的变化，以及流入尼罗河的各种赤道非洲湖泊之间水文输入的变化。以前的研究表明，东非湖泊对气候和环境条件的十年尺度突然变化很敏感，并对这种变化有独特的记录。新的阿尔伯特湖沉积岩心可能会提供这种气候行为的关键细节，但还没有提供。在之前的一个奖项(即ATM-9912052/0196564)中，博宁得到了古气候计划的资助，以分析东非湖泊中的化石草角质层，以更好地了解热带非洲C3和C4草分布的相对范围随时间的变化。该奖项是在减少预算和工作范围的情况下颁发的，以使博宁能够磨练她用于角质层同位素分析的分析技术。因此，博宁将阿尔伯特湖排除在研究地点的名单之外。然而，在其间的几年里，博宁成功地证明了她的同位素技术。巧合的是，2003年春天，阿尔伯特湖上正在进行一次商业地震探险。博宁被提供了几天的轮船时间，在Kilindi号房车上以湖心为核心。湖上没有任何当地船只足以进行取心，因此，商业探险是一个机会，可以经济高效地利用私人和公共资金，为国际古气候研究人员带来巨大回报。只需一小笔资金投资，更广泛的科学界就可以从一个新的、可供公众访问的古气候档案中受益。