Collaborative Research: Geological Hazards, Climate Change, and Human/ Ecosystems Resilience in the Islands of the Four Mountains, Alaska

评估阿留申群岛的地质灾害扰乱史前人类和生态系统的程度，对环北太平洋地区的当前居民有重要的借鉴意义。在过去的一万年里，四山群岛地区的环境不稳定，包括亚北极气候的变化、火山喷发、地震、海啸和海平面波动。与东部和西部的邻近地区相比，强大的洋流和较小的岛屿面积放大了生态驱动的资源极端，可能会造成物质瓶颈和持续到20世纪初的文化边界。这些岛屿为评估史前人类适应地质灾害和环境变化的发展提供了极好的机会。这样的研究尚未进行，这是可以理解的。同样的火山活动、陡峭的海岸线、狂风和强烈的潮汐可能给史前个体带来了严重的风险，阻碍了现代研究探险。这四个山的史前遗址很少被研究，但根据新的地质数据，表明阿留申群岛在人类迁徙和社会发展期间的火山活动，具有非常重要的意义。一个由专业和学生考古学家、地质学家、生态学家和动物学家组成的团队将在四山群岛进行为期三年的跨学科综合调查。预计从这些遗址获得的大量新的放射性碳、地质、古环境和文化数据将为史前和欧洲接触时期的地质灾害记录、人类应对机制、变化的生存和适应提供新的见解。四山群岛位于世界上一个生态和经济重要的地区-北太平洋和白令海。两大洲的人们依靠其海洋生态系统中的鱼类为生，鉴于飞机对火山灰和沿海城市对海啸的敏感性，其地质灾害可能会影响到北太平洋沿岸的所有国家。在全球变化加速的背景下，对白令海区域人与环境的长期相互作用进行全面研究，对于了解阿留申生物和人类系统的动态以及有效解决当今这些系统动态变化引起的社会、政治和经济问题至关重要。该岛群位于其其中一座火山--芒特山--的高灾难性区域。在过去十年(最近的2013年5月)和史前人类居住的时间里，克利夫兰已经爆发了20多次。阿留申板块边界发生了四次8级以上的地震和数十次7级以上的地震，这些地震在历史上和史前都曾引发过海啸。通过与阿拉斯加火山观测站、阿留申公司、阿留申博物馆和凯克地质联盟的伙伴关系，该项目将把科学家、美洲原住民、学生和政策制定者聚集在一起进行教育和合作。

Assessing the degree to which geological hazards in the Aleutian archipelago disrupted prehistoric human and ecological systems has important lessons for current inhabitants of the northern Pacific Rim. The Islands of Four Mountains region embodies environmental instabilities that, in the last 10,000 years, include changing subarctic climate, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and sea level fluctuations. Compared to adjacent regions to the east and west, strong ocean currents and smaller island size magnify ecologically-driven resource extremes, perhaps creating a physical bottleneck and the cultural boundary that persisted into the early 20th century. These islands provide an excellent opportunity to assess the development of prehistoric human adaptations to geological hazards and environmental change. That such research has not already occurred is understandable. The same volcanic activity, precipitous coastlines, high winds, and strong riptides that may have posed profound risks to prehistoric individuals hinder modern research expeditions. The Four Mountain prehistoric sites are little studied but are highly significant in light of new geologic data indicating volcanic activity during human migration and societal development in the Aleutian archipelago. A team of professional and student archaeologists, geologists, ecologists, and zoologists will conduct a comprehensive, interdisciplinary three-year investigation in the Islands of the Four Mountains. Extensive new radiocarbon, geological, paleoenvironmental, and cultural data expected from these sites will yield novel insights into the record of geological hazards, human coping mechanisms, changing subsistence, and adaptations during the prehistoric and European contact periods.The Islands of the Four Mountains are located in an ecologically and economically important region of the world - the north Pacific and Bering Sea. People on two continents rely on fish from its marine ecosystem, and, given the sensitivity of airplanes to volcanic ash and of coastal cities to tsunamis, its geologic hazards potentially affect all nations of the northern Pacific Rim. Comprehensive research on long-term human-environmental interactions in the Bering Sea region, set against a backdrop of accelerated global change, is vital to understanding the dynamics of Aleutian biological and human systems and effectively addressing the social, political, and economic issues that arise from changes in those system dynamics today. The island group lies in a zone of high catastrophic potential in that one of its volcanoes, Mt. Cleveland, has erupted explosively more than 20 times in the last decade (as recently as May 2013) and during the time of prehistoric human habitation. The Aleutian plate boundary is the site of four earthquakes having a magnitude greater than 8 and dozens with magnitudes greater than 7, and these have generated tsunamis historically and prehistorically. Through partnerships with the Alaska Volcano Observatory, the Aleut Corporation, Museum of the Aleutians, and the Keck Geology Consortium this project will bring scientists, Native Americans, students and policy makers together in education and collaboration.