MCA: RUI: Investigating the role of microbialites in Lower-Middle Ordovician reefs of Laurentia: integrating outcrop, petrographic, and geochemical approaches.

由于海水温度上升和海洋酸化，珊瑚礁正在迅速减少。这些具有重要经济和生态意义的硬礁结构将很快被更柔软的微生物、藻类和海绵组合所取代。珊瑚礁的化石记录可以提供关键的见解，使人们能够预测珊瑚礁环境如何从微生物-藻类-海绵结构过渡到由珊瑚等骨骼动物建造的坚固的珊瑚礁。该项目将通过量化造礁者随时间推移的趋势来研究奥陶纪时期的这种转变。化石珊瑚礁的生态影响将与现代珊瑚礁的生态影响进行比较，以帮助预测现代珊瑚礁环境在没有强壮的骨骼珊瑚礁建造者的情况下将如何运作。这项工作的成果将极大地促进两位拉丁裔地球科学家的职业生涯，他们在以本科为主的机构任教。这项工作将使90名第一代低收入(FGLI)学生接触到生物礁的研究，并将有6至12名FGLI学生参与指导研究经验。该项目将使用露头、岩相学和地球化学技术的组合来量化犹他州伊贝克斯附近早中奥陶世生物礁的构造者。这项工作的一个具体目标是开发地球化学技术，以发现神秘的微生物组构的存在，特别是在泥丘中。另一个目标是详细说明在给定间隔内组合的礁丘如何在对沉积体系的影响方面作为一个更大的礁体单元。这项工作将包括由参加布林莫尔学院两个项目的FGLI本科生进行的暑期实地和实验室研究：STEM Posse和STEMLA研究员项目。每年夏天，研究导师将与PI合作，向这两个项目的即将到来的队列提供关于化石礁研究的短期课程。该项目将涉及到佛罗里达群岛的实地研究之旅，将奥陶纪化石礁数据与佛罗里达珊瑚礁系统进行比较。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Coral reefs are declining rapidly due to rising seawater temperatures and ocean acidification. These economically and ecologically important hard reef structures will soon be replaced by softer assemblages of microbes, algae, and sponges. The fossil record of reefs can provide critical insights that allow for predictions about how reef environments transition away from microbial-algal-sponge structures to robust reefs built by skeletonized animals like corals. This project will investigate such a transition during the Ordovician Period by quantifying trends in reef-builders through time. The ecologic impact of the fossil reefs will be compared to that of modern coral reefs to help make predictions about how modern reef environments will function without robustly-skeletonized reef-builders. The products of this work will greatly advance the career of two Latinx geoscientists who teach at predominantly undergraduate institutions. This work will expose ninety first-generation, low-income (FGLI) students to the study of reefs and will involve six to twelve FGLI students in mentored research experiences.This project will quantify framework builders in reefs of the Early-Middle Ordovician succession near Ibex, Utah using a combination of outcrop, petrographic, and geochemical techniques. A specific aim of this work is to develop geochemical techniques for uncovering the presence of cryptic microbialite fabrics, particularly in mud-mounds. Another aim is to detail how the combined reef mounds within a given interval act as a larger reef unit with respect to impacts on the depositional system. This work will include summer field and laboratory research conducted by FGLI undergraduates participating in two programs at Bryn Mawr College: the STEM Posse and STEMLA Fellows programs. Each summer, research mentees will work with the PI to present short courses on the study of fossil reefs to incoming cohorts of the two programs. The project will involve a field research trip to the Florida Keys to compare Ordovician fossil reef data to the Florida coral reef system.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.