Assessing the Paleoecology and Taphonomy of the New Early Jurassic Ya Ha Tinda Lagerst?tte (Canada) and the Significance of the Toarcian Ocean Anoxic Event

海洋生物群落在岩石中从来没有完美的化石化，因为脆弱的生物和那些没有坚硬部分的生物很少被保存下来。加拿大阿尔伯塔的亚哈廷达是一个新发现的特殊化石存款，具有非凡的软组织保存。这是第一个来自北美侏罗纪岩石（2.01亿至1.45亿年前）的此类化石，将产生有关当时生活在该地区的海洋生物群落的重要新生态数据，并将产生有关软组织化石如何保存的重要信息。这一存款形成于侏罗纪海洋缺氧事件期间，这一时期的环境变化可能与预测的未来条件相似。Ya Ha Tinda研究将提供关于这一全球事件对海洋社区影响的重要新信息。这项工作的成果将通过实地博客、讲座、互动博览会和机构外展计划与公众分享。标本将包括在博物馆展品在皇家泰瑞尔博物馆的古生物学和作为一个虚拟显示通过UT奥斯汀非脊椎动物古生物学实验室。此外，还将为8年级的科学课开发一个关于灭绝事件的实践教学模块，为视障人士提供材料。该项目的主要目标是：1）评估雅哈廷达动物群的组成，灭绝和恢复动态; 2）将这些数据与欧洲的同时代沉积物进行比较; 3）开发雅哈廷达软组织保存模型; 4）确定是否由海洋浮游生物事件驱动或增强保护。该项目将整合对Ya Ha Tinda化石的古生物学，沉积学和地球化学研究，并将数据与欧洲相同年龄的黑色页岩沉积物标本进行比较，以提供对这一全球缺氧事件的独特视角。化石将在新设计的扫描电子显微镜仪器上进行显微镜和分析地球化学分析，该仪器允许对超大的3D样品进行定量分析。

Marine biotic communities are never perfectly fossilized in rocks because delicate organisms and those without hard parts are rarely preserved. Ya Ha Tinda in Alberta, Canada, is a newly discovered exceptional fossil deposit with extraordinary preservation of soft tissues. It is the first of its kind from North American Jurassic rocks (201 to 145 million years ago) and will generate significant new ecological data about the marine communities that lived in this region at this time and also will yield essential information about how soft tissue fossils are preserved. This deposit formed during the Jurassic Oceanic Anoxic Event, a period of significant extinctions caused by environmental changes which might be similar to predicted future conditions. The Ya Ha Tinda study will provide vital new information about the influence of this global event on ocean communities. Results of this work will be shared with the public through field blogs, lectures, interactive fairs, and institutional outreach programs. Specimens will be included in museum exhibits at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology and as a virtual display through the UT Austin Non Vertebrate Paleontology Lab. Additionally, a hands-on teaching module on extinction events will be developed for an 8th grade science class with material for the visually impaired. The chief goals of this project are to: 1) assess the Ya Ha Tinda faunal composition, extinction, and recovery dynamics; 2) compare these data with coeval deposits from Europe; 3) develop a model for soft tissue preservation at Ya Ha Tinda; and 4) determine if preservation was driven or enhanced by the Oceanic Anoxic Event. The project will integrate paleontological, sedimentological, and geochemical research on the Ya Ha Tinda fossils and compare the data with European specimens from black shale deposits of the same age to provide a unique perspective on this global anoxic event. Fossils will be analyzed with microscopy and analytical geochemistry on a newly-designed scanning electron microscopy-based instrument, which allows oversized, 3D samples to be quantitatively analyzed.