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

SGER：跨撒哈拉海道（马里）古新世-始新世哺乳动物化石的集中收集和地层剖面的发展该项目由EAR （SGP）、环境生物学和国际科学与工程办公室联合资助。40-80亿年前的浅海淹没了现在被撒哈拉沙漠占据的地区，并支持了海洋和近岸物种的非凡多样性。这个时间间隔很重要，因为它也包括了地球历史上最近100万年有记录以来最热的气候。然而，在这段时间内，非洲热带地区的地层剖面很少为人所知，而能发现大量脊椎动物化石的地层剖面就更少了。马里北部从这一时期开始就有大量相对未开发的沉积层。我们在那里的初步工作（1999年，2003年）表明，开发跨越古新世-始新世（P/E）边界的陆地-近岸地层剖面具有极好的潜力，其中包括脊椎动物，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地区P/E界线的区域性研究。在此，我们提出小额探索性研究拨款，在此期间，我们将进行为期5周的考察（1月11日）。(1)收集完整的和相关的哺乳动物和其他脊椎动物化石；(2)结合磁地层学、化学地层学、层序地层学和生物地层学，为这些脊椎动物的发现建立一个强有力的地层框架。我们申请的紧迫性源于我们最近获得了国家地理杂志26,664美元的资助，用于实现这些目标。然而，这笔拨款的预算并不包括学生以及PI和co-PI的探险费用。然而，有了SGER的联合资助，我们将有能力进行一次全面的考察，培训马里和美国的研究生，并为世界上的一个地区带来新的专业知识，这些发现可能会改变我们对非洲哺乳动物早期进化的认识。探险队将包括一支非马里队：O'Leary（哺乳动物系统学）、Roberts（层序地层学、沉积学）、Tapanila（生物地层学、技术）、Goodwin（化学地层学）、Muttoni（磁地层学）和McCartney（古生物学博士生），以及一支马里队Sissoko（哺乳动物进化）、Bouare（沉积学）、Cisse（沉积学博士生）。我们合作了两次探险，发表了八篇联合论文，证明了我们合作的能力。知识价值。-我们的试点研究表明，马里的跨撒哈拉海道沉积物包含了热带非洲最连续的白垩纪-新近纪沉积记录。试点工作已经产生了几个明确的P/E剖面，其中P/E边界被限制在几米以内。这些部分的开发将为变革性研究奠定基础，通过建立非洲与北美和亚洲早第三纪盆地的比较研究。撒哈拉沙漠以南有P/E哺乳动物的区域也非常罕见，然而对哺乳动物的分子系统发育研究预测，非洲在这个时期有丰富的哺乳动物群，这些哺乳动物群还有待发现。将在亚米尺度上绘制和测量多个地层剖面，并进行详细的化石取样。识别相和关键面将有助于层序地层格架内的剖面关联。物源、地球化学和化学地层学分析将有助于对比。磁极性地层学的定向手样将以高分辨率（m尺度）收集，并与测量剖面联系起来，重点放在显示连续极性记录恢复潜力的剖面间隔上。更广泛的影响——该项目涉及来自美国、欧洲和非洲机构的7位不同的科学家。两名学生——一名马里学生和一名美国学生将参加这次考察，并将发表有关发现的文章。

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.