Understanding Earth Systems in the early Paleozoic using high-resolution stratigraphy

我提出了一个为期5年的研究计划，以检查物理，生物和化学过程跨越奥陶纪志留纪边界。这个时间间隔与三个主要的中生代冰川之一和三个最大的中生代灭绝事件之一相吻合。早古生代的冰室，像现在的冰室一样，有气候脉冲和海平面周期，由南半球大陆冰盖的盈亏驱动。然而，它在二氧化碳含量比现在高出约10至15倍的大气中启动是独一无二的。在这种温室条件下和在形成一个主要的陆地生物圈之前的大陆规模的冰川证明了复杂的气候动态和气候系统对大气成分以外的因素的敏感性。该研究计划的总体目标是回答21世纪世纪地球历史上最具活力的时期之一的海洋-大气-生物圈系统问题。碳酸盐沉积岩，如那些在安蒂科斯蒂岛暴露良好，如果有序和解释正确，代表了大量信息的仓库，以破译海洋-大气-生物圈系统中的因果关系，在地质时代的深处。我的研究计划是一个很好的机会，让学生在安蒂科斯蒂岛，一个一流的地质实验室工作，获得碳酸盐沉积学，地层学和古生物学的基本技能，并满足，因为我以前的学生没有，在工业，政府和学术界的潜在雇主的要求。

I am proposing a 5-year research program to examine physical, biological, and chemical processes spanning the Ordovician-Silurian boundary. This time interval coincides with one of the three major Phanerozoic glaciations and one of the three largest Phanerozoic extinction events. The early Paleozoic Icehouse, like the current icehouse, had climatic pulses and sea-level cycles driven by the waxing and waning of continental ice sheets initiated in the southern hemisphere. Its initiation under an atmosphere with carbon dioxide level roughly 10 to 15 times higher than the present-day, however, is unique. Continental-scale glaciations under such greenhouse conditions and prior to the development of a major terrestrial biosphere attest to the complex climate dynamics and the susceptibility of the climate system to factors beyond atmospheric composition. The overall goal of this research program is to answer 21st century questions about the ocean-atmosphere-biosphere system during one of the most dynamic intervals in Earth history. Carbonate sedimentary rocks like those well exposed on Anticosti Island are, if ordered and interpreted correctly, represent a storehouse of considerable information to decipher the cause-and-effect relationships within the ocean-atmosphere-biosphere system in the deep geological time. My research program represents an excellent opportunity for students to work on Anticosti Island, a superb geological laboratory, to acquire essential skills in carbonate sedimentology, stratigraphy and paleontology and to meet, as my former students did, the requirements of potential employers in industry, government and academia.*****