SGER: Intensive Collection of Paleocene-Eocene Mammal Fossils and Development of a Stratigraphic Section in the Trans-Saharan Seaway (Mali)

SGER：加强收集古新世-始新世哺乳动物化石和发展的一个地层剖面在跨撒哈拉航道（马里）莫林O？LearyThis项目由环境生物学（SGP）和国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。 40-80百万年前，浅海淹没了现在被撒哈拉沙漠占领的地区，并支持了海洋和近岸物种的非凡多样性。 这个时间间隔是重要的，因为它也包括了地球历史上最后100 Ma的一些最热的气候记录。 然而，在非洲热带地区，这一时期的地层剖面很少有被充分了解的，而能产生大量脊椎动物化石的就更少了。 北方马里有广泛的，相对未开发的沉积矿床从这个时候。 我们在那里的初步工作（1999年，2003年）表明，开发陆地-近海岸地层剖面的潜力很大，跨越古新世-始新世（P/E）边界，有脊椎动物，微型和大型无脊椎动物化石。 该地区的地层学和系统古生物学研究可以促进非洲热带P/E边界的区域检查。在这里，我们提出了一个探索性研究的小补助金，在此期间，我们将采取5周的探险（2009年1月）对马里这些已知的含矿岩石有两个主要目标：（1）目标是收集完整的和相关的哺乳动物和其他脊椎动物化石，以及（2）使用磁性地层学，化学地层学，层序地层学和生物地层学。 我们申请的紧迫性源于我们最近获得的国家地理奖，为实现这些目标提供了26，664美元的资助。 然而，该补助金的预算不包括与学生以及PI和co-PI一起探险的费用。 然而，有了SGER的联合资助，我们将能够进行一次全尺寸的探险，培训马里和美国的研究生，并将新的专业知识带到世界上的一个地区，这些地区可能会产生改变我们对非洲哺乳动物早期进化知识的发现。 这次考察将包括一个非马里的团队：O 'Leary（哺乳动物系统学），Roberts（层序地层学，沉积学），Tapanila（生物地层学，遗迹学），Goodwin（化学地层学），Muttoni（磁性地层学）和McCartney（博士）。学生，古生物学），以及一个马里小组Sissoko（哺乳动物进化），Bouare（沉积学），Cisse（博士，学生，沉积学）。我们有一个共同合作的能力，合作了两次探险，并发表了八份联合论文。我们的试点研究表明，马里沉积物的跨撒哈拉海道包含最连续的记录，在热带非洲的沉积层-新近纪。试点工作已经产生了几个明确的P/E部分，包括P/E边界限制在几米之内。 这些部分的发展将奠定基础，通过建立一个非洲的比较研究北美和亚洲的早第三纪盆地的变革性研究。撒哈拉沙漠以南的P/E哺乳动物区也非常罕见，但对哺乳动物的分子遗传学研究预测，非洲当时有丰富的哺乳动物群，有待发现。 将绘制多个地层剖面图，并以亚米级进行测量，并进行详细的化石取样。沿着关键表面识别相将有助于在层序地层格架内对比剖面。物源、地球化学和化学地层学分析将有助于对比。将以高分辨率（m尺度）收集用于磁极性地层学的定向手样，并将其与测量剖面相联系，重点放在显示有可能恢复连续极性记录的剖面间隔上。 两名学生-一名马里人和一名美国人将参加探险，并将发表有关发现。

SGER: Intensive Collection of Paleocene-Eocene Mammal Fossils and Development of a Stratigraphic Section in the Trans-Saharan Seaway (Mali)Maureen O?LearyThis project is jointly funded by EAR (SGP), Environmental Biology, and the Office of International Science and Engineering. 40-80 mya shallow seas inundated the region now occupied by the Sahara Desert, and supported an extraordinary diversity of marine and nearshore species. This time interval is significant because it also included some of the hottest recorded climates of the last 100 Ma of Earth history. Few well-understood stratigraphic sections in this interval, however, are known from the African tropics, and even fewer that also yield extensive vertebrate fossils. Northern Mali has extensive, relatively unexplored sedimentary deposits from this time. Our preliminary work there (1999, 2003) indicates excellent potential for developing terrestrial-near shore stratigraphic sections spanning the Paleocene-Eocene (P/E) boundary, with vertebrate, micro-, and macroinvertebrate fossils. Study of the stratigraphy and systematic paleontology of this area could catalyze regional examination of the P/E boundary in the African tropics. Here we propose a Small Grant for Exploratory Research during which we would take a 5 week expedition (Jan. '09) to these known fossiliferous rocks of Mali with two major goals: (1) to target collection of complete and associated mammal and other vertebrate fossils, and (2) to establish a robust stratigraphic framework for these vertebrate discoveries using a combination of magnetostratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy and biostratigraphy. The urgency of our application stems from our recent award of a National Geographic grant for $26,664 towards these goals. The budget of that grant does not, however, cover the cost of an expedition with students as well as the PI and co-PIs. With combined SGER funding, however, we would be capable of mounting a full-sized expedition that would train Malian and American graduate students, and bring new expertise to a region of the world that could yield discoveries transforming our knowledge of the early evolution of mammals in Africa. The expedition will include a non-Malian team: O'Leary (mammal systematics), Roberts (sequence stratigraphy, sedimentology), Tapanila (biostratigraphy, ichnology), Goodwin (chemostratigraphy), Muttoni (magnetostratigraphy), and McCartney (Ph.D. student, paleontology), and a Malian team Sissoko (mammal evolution), Bouare (sedimentology), Cisse (Ph.D. student, sedimentology). We have a proven ability to work together having collaborated on two expeditions and published eight joint papers.Intellectual Merit.- Our pilot research indicates that Malian deposits of the Trans-Saharan Seaway contain the most continuous record of Cretaceous-Neogene sedimentation in tropical Africa. Pilot work has resulted in several well-defined P/E sections that include the P/E boundary constrained to within several meters. Development of these sections would lay the groundwork for transformative research by establishing an African comparison for the well-studied Early Tertiary basins of North America and Asia. P/E mammal-bearing sections south of the Sahara Desert are also very rare, yet molecular phylogenetics research on mammals predicts that Africa had a rich mammal fauna at this time that remains to be discovered. Multiple stratigraphic sections will be mapped and measured at the sub-meter scale, and detailed fossil sampling undertaken. Identification of facies along with key surfaces will help correlate sections within a sequence stratigraphic framework. Provenance, geochemical, and chemostratigraphic analysis will aid in correlations. Oriented hand samples for magnetic polarity stratigraphy will be collected at high-resolution (m-scale) and tied to measured sections, with emphasis on intervals of section that display potential for recovery of a continuous polarity record.Broader Impacts - This project involves seven diverse scientists from American, European and African institutions. Two students - one Malian and one American will participate in the expedition and will publish on the discoveries.