Cooperative Research in Sub-Saharan Africa on Oxygen Isotope Ratios in Freshwater Gastropods as Paleoclimatic Indicators

本提案为NSF拨款号申请补充资金。EAR8416071允许罗德岛大学化学教授Paul I. Abell博士与尼日利亚巴耶罗大学的Christine Betterton博士、津巴布韦大学的H. V. Clarke博士和其他科学家在撒哈拉以南非洲开展为期6个月的合作研究项目，以淡水腹足类动物的氧同位素比率作为古气候指标。首先将研究现代腹足类动物壳及其水环境的样本，以提供基线数据。然后，这项技术将被应用于撒哈拉以南非洲不同地区的古环境研究中选择的腹足类化石。淡水腹足类动物通过其外壳稳定的氧同位素比率记录环境信息。这些信息包括壳中碳酸钙分解对温度的敏感性，以及腹足类动物生活的宿主水体的蒸发效应。这项研究可能会对古环境提供更多的见解。该项目与“发展中国家科学项目”的目标相关，该项目旨在通过科学信息、思想、技能和技术的交流以及在互利问题上的合作，提高美国科学家和工程师与发展中国家同行之间的合作水平。

This proposal requests supplemental funds for NSF Grant No. EAR8416071 to permit Dr. Paul I. Abell, Professor of Chemistry, University of Rhode Island, to pursue with Dr. Christine Betterton, Bayero University, Nigeria, Dr. H. V. Clarke, University of Zimbabwe, and other scientists in Sub-Saharan Africa, for a period of 6 months, a program of cooperative research on oxygen isotope ratios in freshwater gastropods as a paleoclimatic indicator. Samples of modern gastropod shells and their aqueous environments will be studied first to provide base line data. The technique then will be applied to selected fossil gastropods in studies of paleoenvironments from a variety of locations in Sub-Saharan Africa. Freshwater gastropods record environmental information in the stable oxygen isotope ratios of their shells. This information includes a sensitivity toward temperature in the decomposition of the calcium carbonate of the shell as well as evaporative effects stemming from the host body of water in which the gastropod lived. This study may provide additional insights into paleoenvironments. This project is relevant to the objectives of the Science in Developing Countries Program which seeks to increase the level of cooperation between U.S. scientists and engineers and their counterparts in developing countries through the exchange of scientific information, ideas, skills, and techniques and through collaboration on problems of mutual benefit.