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。这些在经济上和生态上都很重要的硬礁结构很快就会被微生物、藻类和海绵等较软的组合所取代。珊瑚礁的化石记录可以提供关键的见解，使我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珊瑚礁。这个项目将通过量化珊瑚礁建造者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坚固的骨骼化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地球科学家的职业生涯，他们主要在本科院校任教。这项工作将使90名第一代低收入（FGLI）学生接触到珊瑚礁的研究，并将涉及6至12名FGLI学生的指导研究经验。该项目将结合露头、岩石学和地球化学技术，量化犹他州Ibex附近早-中奥陶世演替的珊瑚礁框架构建者。这项工作的一个具体目标是发展地球化学技术，以发现隐藏的微生物岩结构的存在，特别是在泥丘中。另一个目的是详细说明在给定间隔内组合的礁丘如何作为一个更大的礁单元对沉积体系的影响。这项工作将包括FGLI本科生在夏季进行的实地和实验室研究，他们参加了布林茅尔学院的两个项目：STEM Posse和STEMLA Fellows项目。每年夏天，研究指导者将与PI合作，向两个项目的新成员介绍化石珊瑚礁研究的短期课程。该项目将包括到佛罗里达群岛进行实地研究，将奥陶系的化石珊瑚礁数据与佛罗里达珊瑚礁系统进行比较。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.