Climatic History of the Western Amazon Basin and the Equatorial Andes since 18K

孢粉学和古岩石学将被用来重建自上一次冰盛期以来西亚马孙盆地的气候历史。沉积物岩心将从亚马逊陨石坑昆帕卡湖、亚马逊古老的河流湖泊赞库多科查和厄瓜多尔南部安第斯山脉的湖泊中获得。将对放射性碳测年显示为冰川时代的亚马逊化石进行采样和探索。将进行花粉和硅藻分析，以重建植被和湖泊水位的历史，以检验亚马逊西部冰川气候比全新世气候更凉爽而不是更干燥的假设。这个项目之所以重要，是因为它将勾勒出这一广阔热带地区的古气候历史，这一地区对于我们对气候变化的理解至关重要，而且几乎是未知的。这项研究将与北肯塔基大学的斯坦尼茨-卡南教授合作进行，美国国家科学基金会的拨款编号为ATM-8713211。

Palynology and paleolimnology will be used to reconstruct the climatic history of the Western Amazon basin since the last glacial maximum. Sediments cores will be raised from Amazonian crater Lake Kumpaka, from an ancient Amazonian riverine lake, Zancudococha, and from the lakes in the southern Ecuadorian Andes. Fossiliferous Amazonian exposures shown by radiocarbon dating to be of glacial age will be sampled and explored. Pollen and diatom analyses will be undertaken to reconstruct histories of vegetation and lake levels in order to test the hypothesis that glacial climates of the western Amazon were cooler rather than drier than Holocene climates. This project is important because it will delineate the paleoclimate history of this vast tropical region, a region critically important to our understanding of climate change and one virtually unknown. The research will be carried out in collaboration with Professor Steinitz-Kannan at Northern Kentucky University under NSF grant number ATM-8713211.