EAR-PF: Testing the boundaries of Burgess Shale-Type preservation with literature meta-analysis, decay experimentation, and fossil investigation

EAR-PF：通过文献荟萃分析、腐烂实验和化石研究测试伯吉斯页岩型保存的界限

• 批准号: 1725762
• 负责人: Evan Anderson
• 金额: $ 17.4万
• 依托单位: Anderson Evan P
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-10-01 至 2021-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1725762&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAR; PF; Testing; boundaries; Burgess

Dr. Evan Anderson has been granted an EAR Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out research and education plans at the University of Missouri. The research plan will focus on studying the Burgess Shale-type (BST) mode of soft-bodied preservation from multiple approaches to better understand the scope and operational mechanisms of this paleontologically important preservation mode. Soft-bodied fossils can provide ecological and evolutionary information available nowhere else in the fossil record. The education activities will include developing teaching modules for K12 and undergraduate students. The materials for these modules will include common softbodied materials (i.e. graptolites and plant debris), 3-D printed and traditional print-outs of exceptional soft-bodied materials, and materials collected for this study. This investigation will have three components. First, a literature meta-analysis will study and expand a compendium of exceptional soft-bodied fossil deposits (or lagerstätten) to isolate BST and BST-like deposits throughout earth history. Comparing these deposits will both highlight shared characteristics and explore the variation within the BST mode of fossilization. Second, decay experiments will test two models of BST preservation for their effectiveness in slowing soft-bodied degradation. One experiment will test the hypothesis that complex bioturbation prevents BST preservation by oxygenating sediments and enhancing decay by simulating different kinds of burrows penetrating the sediment in which a decay organism is buried. The second experiment will test the hypothesis that elevated calcium and alkalinity levels allows for the development of calcite permeability seals in BST deposits, protecting buried organisms from degradation. Finally, a fossil-based investigation will compare the burial context and fossil preservation of freshly collected material from the BST-like Winneshiek and Waukesha lagerstätten to traditional open marine BST deposits from the Cambrian House Range of Utah. Although the BST-like deposits come from post-Cambrian deposits with restricted water circulation, if the fossil preservational mineralogies and qualities are similar between the BST-like and BST deposits, then their burial environment conditions should be comparable (i.e. calcite seals).

埃文·安德森博士被授予EAR博士后奖学金，在密苏里大学开展研究和教育计划。本研究计划将重点从多个角度研究Burgess Shale-type （BST）软体动物保存模式，以更好地了解这种具有古生物意义的重要保存模式的范围和运作机制。软体动物化石可以提供其他化石记录中没有的生态和进化信息。教育活动将包括为K12和本科生开发教学模块。这些模块的材料将包括常见的软体材料（即笔石和植物碎片），特殊软体材料的3d打印和传统打印输出，以及本研究收集的材料。这项调查将有三个组成部分。首先，文献荟萃分析将研究和扩展特殊的软体化石沉积物纲要（或lagerstätten），以分离地球历史上的BST和类BST沉积物。比较这些矿床既可以突出它们的共同特征，又可以探索它们在BST模式下的变化。其次，衰变实验将测试两种BST保存模型在减缓软体降解方面的有效性。一项实验将验证一个假设，即复杂的生物扰动通过给沉积物充氧来阻止BST的保存，并通过模拟不同类型的穿透沉积物的洞穴来加速腐烂，而腐烂的生物体就埋在这些洞穴中。第二个实验将测试一个假设，即钙和碱度水平的升高可以促进BST沉积物中方解石渗透性密封的形成，从而保护被掩埋的生物免受降解。最后，一项基于化石的调查将比较从温纳希克和沃基沙lagerstätten等BST中新收集的材料的埋藏背景和化石保存情况，与犹他州寒武纪House山脉的传统开放海洋BST沉积物。虽然BST-like矿床来自寒武纪后水循环限制的矿床，但如果BST-like矿床和BST-like矿床的化石保存矿物学和质量相似，则它们的埋藏环境条件应该具有可比性（即方解石盖层）。