SGER: The Salvage Panama Canal Paleontology/Geology Project

这笔为史密森热带研究所(STRI)提供的探索研究小额赠款将提供一个由美国和国际古生物学家、地质学家和学生组成的快速反应小组，从巴拿马运河沿线新露出的新露头的化石和地质样本中收集和保存化石和地质样本。巴拿马，特别是巴拿马，以及整个热带地区，拥有最大的海洋生物和陆地生物群的生物多样性。STRI一直在研究这种巨大的多样性是如何形成的，以及如何保持这种多样性。这些问题的部分答案依赖于对化石和地质记录的检查，因为生物多样性的产生需要数百万年的时间。然而，热带地区的化石记录很难获得，因为好的岩石露头很少，甚至根本不存在。大部分地貌被植被覆盖，风化作用强烈，改变了岩石的组成，破坏了化石。运河的扩建提供了一个难得的机会，可以接触到覆盖广泛地质时代的新岩石露头。对这些新露出的岩石的检查将提供巴拿马地峡形成之前、期间和之后的地质记录，以及它的所有演化、古气候和构造含义。对这个项目来说，时间是至关重要的。随着运河挖掘的推进，化石和岩石必须被记录、绘制地图和收集。在接下来的几年里，这个团队几乎每天都会在运河工作区。有了这个团队，许多独特的化石和地质样本将被保存下来，以供未来的研究，否则这些化石和地质样本可能会被未来的挖掘破坏或掩盖起来。这笔赠款通过成为STRI古生物和地质研究小组的成员，为美国研究生提供了极好的国际经验。所有样本元数据将使用Paleostrat系统进行编目。

This Small Grant for Exploratory Research to the Smithsonian Tropical Ressearch Institute (STRI) will provide for a rapid response team consisting of U.S. and international paleontologists, geologists, and students to collect and conserve fossils and geological samples from the new outcrops of the Neogene sediments exposed along the Panama Canal as it undergoes widening over the next few years.Panama, in particular, and the tropics in general, hold the greatest biodiversity of marine and terrestrial biota. STRI has been studying how this great diversity has formed and how it is maintained. Part of the answer to these questions relies on an examination of the fossil and geological record, because the production of biodiversity takes millions of years. However, the fossil record from the tropics is very difficult to obtain, because good rock outcrops are rare to non-existent. Most of the landscape is covered by vegetation, and the weathering is intense, which alters the composition of the rocks and destroys the fossils.The expansion of the Canal provides a rare opportunity to access fresh rock outcrops covering a large range of geologic time. Examination of these fresh rock outcrops will give access to the geological record from before, during, and after the formation of the isthmus of Panama, with all its evolutionary, paleoclimatological, and tectonic implications.For this project, time is of the essence. Fossils and rocks must be documented, mapped and collected as the excavation of the Canal moves forward. The team will be in the Canal work zone almost every day over the next few years. With this team in place, many unique fossils and geological samples will be preserved for future study that might otherwise be destroyed or covered back up by future excavations. This grant provides excellent international experience for U.S. graduate students by becoming members of the STRI's paleontological and geological research group. All sample metadata will be catalogued using the Paleostrat system.