US-Tanzania Planning Visit: Investigating high-latitude climate change recorded in upper Paleozoic non-marine strata of East Africa

该奖项支持俄克拉何马大学的Michael Soreghan博士和两名美国研究生计划访问坦桑尼亚，与坦桑尼亚同事一起开发新的地球科学合作研究项目。美国团队将与达累斯萨拉姆大学的Hudson Nkotagu博士和坦桑尼亚地质调查局会面，为未来向美国国家科学基金会提出的国际合作研究建议制定计划。研究的结果可能是：1)详细记录晚古生代的区域气候变化；2)对某些湖相岩石建立层序地层模型，以预测这些地层中具有经济可行性的煤和铀矿的分布。知识价值。这项研究的最终结果将提供高纬度泛大陆过去气候变化的高分辨率陆地记录，可以与来自高纬度海洋领域和泛大陆（古）热带的更好研究记录进行比较。提高我们对“深时间”（前第四纪）气候的理解的关键之一是需要更好的年龄限制，因为缺乏关键气候记录的相关性阻碍了对深时间气候的高分辨率、空间广泛的研究。因此，与M. Schmitz博士（博伊西州立大学）合作，拟议的规划实地工作的直接结果将是改善这些年代不确定的湖相地层的年龄限制。此外，详细分析相变化及气候对相转变的控制作用，将为评价盆地含煤、含铀地层的分布提供预测模型。更广泛的影响。提出的研究结果最终涉及低纬度和高纬度气候变化是否同步和/或对变化的反应更敏感的问题，从而与最近和未来的气候变化有关。通过加强煤和含铀地层的沉积模式，研究结果也将对坦桑尼亚具有潜在的经济价值。除了科学影响外，拟议的实地考察还将为非洲科学家以及非洲和美国学生提供一种提高实地地质技能的机制。实地经验和研究项目是任何地质训练的关键组成部分，但在许多非洲大学的地质课程中非常有限。长期以来，PI一直对科学教育和将活跃的科学融入课堂感兴趣，该项目的结果和经验将纳入通识教育、专业和研究生水平的课程。该奖项由国际科学与工程办公室、非洲、近东和南亚项目资助。

This award supports a planning visit for Dr. Michael Soreghan at the University of Oklahoma and two US graduate students to develop new collaborative research projects in the geosciences with Tanzanian colleagues. The US team will meet with Dr. Hudson Nkotagu at the University of Dar es Salaam and the Tanzanian Geological Survey to develop plans for future international collaborative research proposals to NSF. The probable outcomes of the proposed research will be 1) a detailed record of regional climate change for the late Paleozoic; and 2) a sequence stratigraphic model for certain lacustrine rocks in order to predict the distribution of economically viable deposits of coal and uranium within these strata.Intellectual Merit. Ultimate results of this research will provide a high-resolution terrestrial record of past climate change for high-latitude Pangaea that can be compared to better studied records from the high-latitude marine realm and the (paleo)tropics across Pangaea. One of the main keys to advancing our understanding of "deep time" (pre-Quaternary) climate is the need for better age constraints, since lack of correlation of key climate records has precluded high-resolution, spatially extensive studies of deep-time climate. Thus an immediate outcome of the proposed planning fieldwork will be improved age constraints for these poorly dated lacustrine strata in collaboration with Dr. M. Schmitz (Boise State University). In addition, a detailed analysis of facies changes and the climatic control on these facies transitions will provide a predictive model for evaluating the distribution of the coal and uranium bearing strata in these basins.Broader Impacts. Results of the proposed research ultimately bears on the question of whether low- and high-latitude climate change is synchronous and/or which responds more sensitively to change, and thus is relevant to both recent and future climate change. Results will also have potential economic value to Tanzania through enhanced depositional models of coal and uranium-bearing strata. In addition to scientific impacts, the proposed field trip will provide a mechanism to enhance geological field skills for African scientists and African and U.S. students. Field experiences and research projects are a critical component of any geologic training, but are very limited in the geological curricula of many African universities. The PI has a long-standing interest in science education and in incorporating active science in the classroom, and the results and experiences from this project will be incorporated in general education, major, and graduate-level courses.This award is being funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering's, Africa, Near East, and South Asia program.