US - Egypt Cooperative Research: Climate Change and Biotic Effects During the Late Cretaceous of Egypt

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案资助的（公法111-5）.这项合作研究项目由普林斯顿大学的Gerta Keller博士和埃及南谷大学的Abdel Aziz Tantawy博士进行，目的是收集必要的长期生物，矿物学和地球化学记录需要了解温室-冰库过渡和晚白垩世环境变化。坎帕尼亚-马斯特里赫特时期是地球历史上的一个关键时期。 它标志着（1）伴随着海平面和生产力波动的长期全球变冷;（2）见证了大多数温室世界动物和植物群的逐渐消亡，以及试图在变化的古环境中生存但大多失败的物种的进化和适应策略;（3）见证了白垩纪末地球五次大规模灭绝之一。这些全球性事件在特提斯东部和埃及的大陆架沉积物中尤为明显。这一转变伴随着海平面波动和间歇性的富含有机物的沉积，形成了目前已知的大部分石油、天然气和磷矿床。根据本项目的建议，对这些沉积物的研究可以提供关键信息，帮助了解与主要气候转变相关的环境和生物变化。主要研究目标是建立一个全面综合的晚白垩世气候多学科历史，埃及的海平面和生物变化，特别强调矿物和有机物，丰富的沉积物提供了有关气候变暖的生物后果的科学信息。拟议的研究将包括古生物学、稳定同位素、矿物学和地球化学。研究结果将提供必要的长期生物，矿物学和地球化学记录，需要了解温室-冰库过渡，显着提高我们的理解长期和短期的生物多样性变化，并阐明环境条件，导致白垩纪动物群的下降，在坎帕尼亚和导致K-T大灭绝。该研究涉及美国科学家与其他3个国家（埃及、德国和瑞士）科学家之间的国际合作，以及美国学生（研究生和本科生）参与国际研究的机会。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This collaborative research project is being undertaken by Dr. Gerta Keller, Princeton University, and Dr. Abdel Aziz Tantawy, South Valley University in Egypt, to collect the necessary long-term biotic, mineralogical and geochemical records needed to understand the greenhouse-icehouse transition and the late Cretaceous environmental changes. The Campanian-Maastrichtian interval is a critical time period in Earth's history. It marks (1) the long-term global cooling accompanied by fluctuations in sea-level and productivity, (2) witnessed the gradual demise of most of the greenhouse world fauna and flora and the evolution and adaptive strategies of species trying to survive in the changing paleoenvironment, but mostly failing, and (3) witnessed one of Earth's five major mass extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous. These global events are most pronounced in the continental shelf sediments of the eastern Tethys and Egypt in particular. The transition was accompanied by sea level fluctuations and intermittent organic-rich sedimentation that created most of the currently known oil, gas and phosphorite deposits. Study of these sediments, as proposed in this project can yield critical information to help understand the environmental and biotic changes associated with major climatic transitions.The main research objective is to develop a comprehensive integrated multi-disciplinary history of late Cretaceous climate, sea-level and biotic changes in Egypt with special emphasis on mineral and organic-rich deposits that yield scientific information regarding biotic consequences of climate warming. The proposed study will include paleontology, stable isotopes, mineralogy, and geochemistry. The results will provide the necessary long-term biotic, mineralogical and geochemical records needed to understand the greenhouse-icehouse transition, significantly improve our understanding of both long-term and short-term biotic diversity changes, and elucidate the environmental conditions that led to the decline of the Cretaceous fauna during the Campanian and leading up to the K-T mass extinction. The database generated will be directly applicable to future paleoenvironmental studies of the region.This study involves international collaboration between US scientists and those of 3 other countries (Egypt, Germany, and Switzerland), as well as opportunities for US student (graduate and undergraduate) participation in international research.