The Middle Proterozoic Record of Tectonic, Biogeochemical, and Eukaryotic Evolution

中元古代构造、生物地球化学和真核进化的记录

• 批准号: RGPIN-2017-04025
• 负责人: Halverson, Galen
• 金额: $ 3.42万
• 依托单位: McGill University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=751012
• 关键词: Middle; Proterozoic; Record; Tectonic; Biogeochemical

Earth's middle age, ca. 1.8 to 0.8 billion years ago, witnessed the diversification of early eukaryotic and the gradual oxygenation of the environment that set the stage for the origin of animals. This billion-year interval was bracketed by the formation of two supercontinents whose assembly and break-up likely profoundly influenced ocean chemistry and the spatial and temporal distribution of sediment-hosted mineral deposits. Elucidating the patterns and linkages between tectonic, biogeochemical, and eukaryotic evolution during the middle Proterozoic Era is a grand scientific challenge that is made possible by the extensive and well-preserved middle Proterozoic sedimentary record in northern Canada. In the next five years, I will lead an interdisciplinary effort to document and calibrate the middle Proterozoic record of paleoenvironmental change and test the interconnections and feedbacks between the evolving biosphere, ocean oxygenation, and plate tectonics. This research program will be grounded in fieldwork in northern Canada and focused on understanding and parsing the sedimentary successions in which these records are archived. Hence, this research will entail field seasons devoted to stratigraphic and sedimentological analysis of Proterozoic sedimentary basins to better constrain their age, tectonic context, and geological history. This fieldwork will also serve to collect appropriate high quality samples for diverse analyses and approaches to interrogating the sedimentary record, including radiometric dating, isotope geochemistry, micropaleontology, and paleomagnetism. Analytical work will be performed by my highly skilled and diverse research group and by colleagues with complementary, specialized research expertise. Providing HQP with the opportunity to train in cutting edge analytical methods will be prioritized. Resulting data will serve both to document the evolution of the middle Proterozoic environment and to develop and test mechanistic models for what drove these changes. At the same time, these data will inform stratigraphic correlations and interpretations of depositional environments. Samples collected over the course of this research program will be carefully catalogued and made available for other research projects. This research program will improve the stratigraphic framework for Proterozoic basins in Arctic Canada, the origin of which will be linked with emerging models for the tectonic evolution of Proterozoic North America. Data from these basins will in turn be integrated with datasets from other middle Proterozoic basins in order to better calibrate and construct the middle Proterozoic geological time scale. These results will both inform the economic potential of these basins and shed new light on the global paleoenvironment that was the cradle of early complex life.

地球的中年，CA。1.8到8亿年前，见证了早期真核生物的多样化和环境的逐渐氧化，为动物的起源奠定了基础。这十亿年的时间间隔被两个超级大陆的形成所包围，它们的组装和分裂可能深刻地影响了海洋化学和沉积物矿床的时空分布。阐明中元古界构造、地球化学和真核生物演化之间的模式和联系是一项重大的科学挑战，而加拿大北方广泛而保存完好的中元古界沉积记录使这一挑战成为可能。在接下来的五年里，我将领导一个跨学科的努力，记录和校准古环境变化的中元古代记录，并测试不断变化的生物圈，海洋氧化和板块构造之间的相互联系和反馈。这项研究计划将在加拿大北方的实地考察接地，并侧重于了解和解析这些记录存档的沉积序列。因此，这项研究将需要致力于元古代沉积盆地的地层学和沉积学分析，以更好地限制他们的年龄，构造背景和地质历史的领域季节。这项实地工作还将收集适当的高质量样品，用于各种分析和方法，以询问沉积记录，包括放射性测年，同位素地球化学，微体古生物学和古地磁学。分析工作将由我的高技能和多样化的研究小组和具有互补性的专业研究知识的同事进行。优先考虑为HQP提供尖端分析方法培训的机会。由此产生的数据将有助于记录中元古代环境的演变，并开发和测试驱动这些变化的机制模型。同时，这些数据将为地层对比和沉积环境解释提供信息。在这项研究计划的过程中收集的样本将被仔细编目，并提供给其他研究项目。 这项研究计划将改善加拿大北极地区元古宙盆地的地层框架，其起源将与北美元古宙构造演化的新兴模型联系起来。这些盆地的数据将与其他中元古代盆地的数据集进行整合，以便更好地校准和构建中元古代地质时标。这些结果将为这些盆地的经济潜力提供信息，并为作为早期复杂生命摇篮的全球古环境提供新的启示。