The Evolution of Reefs and the Dispersal of Reefal Biotas: A Preliminary Synthesis Focusing on the Wrangellia Terrane

该项目集中对美国和加拿大科迪勒兰地区的五个关键地点进行实地调查。它将提供关于北美西部一些置换地体中晚三叠世生物礁和礁状碳酸盐岩演化的有意义的数据。利用微相分析和详细的钙质藻类和各种底栖动物(有孔虫、海绵、珊瑚、软体动物和棘球动物)古生物学的双重研究方法，这项研究将检验关于生物群的扩散和吸积地体在阿拉斯加、加拿大西北部和俄勒冈州移动的想法。拟议的项目将建立在先前对秘鲁中部上三叠统动物群和碳酸盐岩的研究基础上，以及最近在爱达荷州和俄勒冈州东北部地区发现的珊瑚礁。该项目将受益于与欧洲高山工作者的合作，汇集他们的知识，将目前对北美三叠纪的了解提高到接近欧洲著名同行的水平。根据地体理论和生物礁演化制定一个可行的生物群扩散模式，并结合从世界其他区域获得的数据，将能够对全球三叠纪古地理进行一般综合，从而能够实现北美目前在生物礁研究或地体分析中所没有的那种详细分辨率。

This project concentrates on field investigations of five crucial localities within the Cordilleran region of the United States and Canada. It will provide meaningful data on the evolution of late Triassic reefs and reeflike carbonate rocks within a number of displaced terranes accreted to western North America. Utilizing the dual approach of microfacies analysis and detailed paleontological study of calcareous algae and diverse benthic faunas of foraminifers, sponges, corals, molluscs and echinoids, the research will test ideas about the dispersal of the biota and the movement of accretional terranes in Alaska, the Canadian Northwest, and Oregon. The proposed project will build upon a foundation of prior research on Upper Triassic faunas and carbonate rocks of central Peru as well as recent reef discoveries at localities in Idaho and northeastern Oregon. The project will benefit from collaboration with alpine workers of Europe, pooling their knowledge to bring current understanding of the North American Triassic to levels approaching those of well-known counterparts of Europe. The formulation of a viable model for the dispersal of the biota in light of terrane theory and reef evolution, along with integration of data acquired from other regions of the world, will permit a general synthesis for global Triassic paleogeography, allowing the type of detailed resolution not currently available in either reef studies or terrane analyses in North America.