Collaborative Research: RUI: An Integrative Paleontological And Paleoenvironmental Study Of The Middle Cambrian Spence, Wheeler, And Marjum Soft-Bodied Faunas

寒武纪软体动物群的研究极大地加深了我们对后生动物演化中一些关键事件的认识。然而，谜和不完全描述寒武纪伯吉斯页岩型软体动物群仍然存在，因为没有问题，为什么和如何伯吉斯页岩型保存发生。申请资助的拟议研究的近期目标是：1）利用最近从犹他州收集的标本，编写、描述、专著，并将来自中寒武世斯彭斯段和惠勒组和马尔朱姆组的软体动物群的新分类群纳入原生生物学和古生物地理学框架; 2）利用微分析技术确定化石在化石水平上的埋藏学;（3）利用新近发展起来的微地层学技术，将软体生物及其保存所涉及的埋藏过程置于一个详细的古环境格架中，这一研究的智力价值在于解决寒武纪古生物学和地质学中的一些谜团，从而实现多目标。首先，识别和表征犹他州动物群的要素将有助于确定哪些类群是这些地层和分布在地球仪中的其他寒武纪软体动物群所共有的。因此，可以确定这些种和属的地层和地理范围。其次，结合已有的信息，可以评估Spence、惠勒和Marjum中各种节肢动物的系统发育关系。这些目标将增加我们对寒武纪地理学的理解，也将增加我们对动物进化中重要早期事件的性质和拓扑学的理解。此外，对三个主要的伯吉斯页岩型地点进行深入的埋藏学和显微地层学研究，将有助于我们更好地理解控制寒武纪伯吉斯页岩动物群保存的古环境因素和埋藏过程，并有助于我们理解为什么这种类型的保存是寒武纪所独有的。由于这些鲜为人知的动物群的丰富性和重要性，整个研究区域的良好暴露和相对较低的泥岩变质等级承载软体动物群，该项目还提供了一个难得的机会，以解决伯吉斯页岩型沉积物中的成岩作用，古生态学和保护在一个相互关联的背景下。一些动物群，将被研究是在收藏在堪萨斯大学（KU），并附有精确的位置数据。还有一位堪萨斯大学的荣誉退休教授，迪克·罗宾逊，他在与这笔赠款有关的领域具有重要的专业知识。犹他州大学的教授苏·哈尔格达尔和理查德·贾拉德也同意向我们提供他们在犹他州收集的大量软体寒武纪伯吉斯页岩型动物群供我们研究;同样，这些动物群还附有精确的地点数据。这些因素中的每一个都将极大地促进这项拟议中的研究。就更广泛的影响而言，本项目将有助于培训两名研究生，一名在堪萨斯大学，一名在加州大学，滨江，他们将参加拟议中的研究活动和参加科学会议。通过RUI计划，该项目还将有助于来自波莫纳学院的多名本科生的实地和分析培训，波莫纳学院是一所本科生专用机构，也是凯克地质学联盟的成员。

The study of Cambrian soft-bodied faunas has greatly enhanced our understanding ofsome key events in metazoan evolution. However, enigmas and incompletely describedCambrian Burgess Shale-type soft-bodied faunas still remain, as does the question of why andhow Burgess Shale-type preservation occurs. The immediate objectives of the proposed researchfor which funding is requested are: 1) to prepare, describe, monograph, and fit into aphylogenetic and paleobiogeographic framework new taxa from the Middle Cambrian softbodiedfaunas of the Spence Member and the Wheeler and Marjum Formations using recentcollections made from Utah; 2) to use microanalytical techniques to determine the taphonomy ofthe fossils at the specimen-level; and 3) to place the soft bodied organisms and the taphonomicprocesses involved in their preservation into a detailed paleoenvironmental framework usingnewly developed microstratigraphic techniques.The intellectual merit of this research is to address some enigmas in Cambrianpaleontology and geology, allowing multiple objectives to be attained. First, identifying andcharacterizing the elements of the Utah faunas will help establish which taxa are shared betweenthese formations and other Cambrian soft-bodied faunas distributed throughout the globe. Thus,the stratigraphic and geographic ranges of these species and genera can be determined. Second,in conjunction with pre-existing information, the phylogenetic relationships of the variousarthropods in the Spence, Wheeler, and Marjum can be evaluated. These objectives will increaseour understanding of Cambrian biogeography and also the nature and topology of importantearly episodes in animal evolution. Additionally, intensive taphonomic and microstratigraphicstudy of three of the principal Burgess Shale-type localities will lead to a refined understandingof the paleoenvironmental factors and taphonomic processes that controlled the preservation ofBurgess Shale faunas in the Cambrian, and will contribute to our understanding of why this typeof preservation is unique to the Cambrian. Due to the richness and significance of these poorlyknownfaunas, the excellent exposure across the study areas and the relatively low metamorphicgrade of mudstones hosting the soft-bodied faunas, this project also provides a rare opportunityto address phylogeny, paleoecology, and preservation in Burgess Shale-type deposits in aninterrelated context.Some of the faunas that will be studied are in collections housed at the University ofKansas (KU), and they are accompanied by precise locality data. There is also an emeritusprofessor at the University of Kansas, Dick Robison, with significant expertise in areas related tothis grant. Sue Halgedahl and Richard Jarrard, professors at the University of Utah, have alsoagreed to make their extensive collections of soft-bodied, Cambrian Burgess Shale-type faunasfrom Utah available to us for study; again, these are accompanied by precise locality data. Eachof these factors will greatly facilitate this proposed research.In terms of broader impacts, this project will contribute to the training of two graduatestudents, one at KU and one at the University of California, Riverside, who will participate in theproposed research activities and attend scientific meetings. Through the RUI program, thisproject will also contribute to the field and analytical training of multiple undergraduates fromPomona College, an undergraduate-only institution and member of the Keck geologyconsortium.