Collaborative Research: Stratigraphic, geochemical, and paleobiological tests of the co-evolution of multicellular life and environment in the late Ediacaran Period

合作研究：埃迪卡拉纪晚期多细胞生命与环境共同进化的地层学、地球化学和古生物学测试

• 批准号: 0844235
• 负责人: Shuhai Xiao
• 金额: $ 9.4万
• 依托单位: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-06-01 至 2013-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0844235&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Stratigraphic; geochemical; paleobiological

Stratigraphic, Geochemical, and Paleobiological Tests of the Co-Evolution of Multicellular Life and Environment in the Late Ediacaran Period Alan J. Kaufman, University of Maryland Shuhai Xiao, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Dima Grazhdankin, Russian Academy of Sciences The PIs will undertake a basin-wide stratigraphic, geochemical, and paleobiological study of the carbonate-dominated Khatyspyt Formation in remote northern Siberia. Ediacaran fossils in this unit are remarkably preserved in fine-grained carbonates, promising a much enhanced anatomical and paleoecological view of Earths earliest animals. Insofar as the Ediacaran biota may have required abundant free oxygen to sustain metabolic activities, we hypothesize that their distribution may track environmental conditions, and propose tests of this linkage through high resolution time-series analyses of carbon and sulfur isotopes in multiple equivalent sections across the Khatyspyt depositional basin as well as other biological, elemental and isotopic indicators of redox conditions. The Khatyspyt Formation contains a wide range of unique carbonate-hosted Ediacaran organisms, as well as carbonaceous macrofossils, small shelly fossils, trace fossils and planktonic microfossils all in a single, 450-m-thick continuous succession cropping out along the Olenek, Khorbosuonka and Lena rivers. Results of the study should provide insights to the phenomenon of soft tissue preservation, increase the ecological resolution of the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition, and provide important constraints on the history of Earths earliest metazoans and the oceans in which they originated, diversified, and ultimately perished. The primary aim of this field and laboratory based proposal is to test whether the geologically brief Ediacaran experiment in complex multicellular life was controlled by the oxidation state of shallow marine environments. The proposed research will establish a new international collaboration with colleagues in Russia, and require two month-long field seasons above the Arctic Circle in northern Siberia. Graduate students from both U.S. institutions will accompany the PIs in the field, providing them with an enhanced learning experience that will promote both scientific and cultural exchange.

埃迪卡拉纪晚期多细胞生命和环境协同进化的地层学、地球化学和古生物学测试Alan J.考夫曼，马里兰州大学肖树海，弗吉尼亚理工学院和州立大学迪马·格拉日丹金，俄罗斯科学院研究所将对西伯利亚北方偏远地区以碳酸盐为主的Khatyspyt组进行全流域的地层学、地球化学和古生物学研究。埃迪卡拉化石在这个单位是显着保存在细粒碳酸盐，有望大大增强解剖和古生态学的观点，地球上最早的动物。由于埃迪卡拉生物群可能需要丰富的游离氧来维持代谢活动，我们假设它们的分布可能会跟踪环境条件，并建议通过高分辨率的时间序列分析的碳和硫同位素在多个等效部分整个Khatyspyt沉积盆地以及其他生物，元素和同位素指标的氧化还原条件，这种联系的测试。Khatyspyt组包含了各种独特的碳酸盐宿主埃迪卡拉生物，以及碳质宏化石，小壳化石，遗迹化石和浮游微体化石，所有这些都是沿着Olenek，Khorbosuonka和Lena河出现的一个450米厚的连续序列。这项研究的结果应该为软组织保存现象提供见解，增加Ediacaran-寒武纪过渡的生态分辨率，并对地球最早的后生动物和海洋的历史提供重要的限制。这一基于实地和实验室的提议的主要目的是测试地质学上简单的埃迪卡拉纪实验在复杂的多细胞生命中是否受到浅海环境氧化状态的控制。这项研究将与俄罗斯的同事建立新的国际合作，并需要在西伯利亚北方的北极圈上空进行为期两个月的实地考察。来自这两个美国机构的研究生将陪同PI实地考察，为他们提供增强的学习体验，促进科学和文化交流。