Collaborative Research: Fort Payne Formation Echinoderms: Systematics, Paleoecology and Regional Synthesis (Lower Mississippian, Midcontinental U.S.)

根据已知的佩恩堡组石灰岩堆积物的基本沉积学和挖掘学，将对棘皮动物门(棘皮动物门)进行详细的系统研究。佩恩堡地层位于密西西比州下部(奥萨金晚期，距今约3.5亿年)，这项研究将在肯塔基州中南部的岩石中进行。在这些岩石位于地下的地方，它们是石油和天然气的生产商。由于海龙骨遗迹是石灰岩堆积的主要成分，充分记录它们的多样性并了解它们的古生态分布是至关重要的。这将有助于更好地了解这些石灰岩的来源和分布。拟议研究的具体目标包括：1，佩恩堡海百合动物群的种级系统学，包括记录现有大量收藏的种内差异；2，确定佩恩堡古群落的海百合种类组成；3，评估动物群在石灰岩堆积物差异发育中的作用；4、将这些数据与美国中部大陆海百合的种类分布相结合，以便更好地了解奥萨奇晚期海百合的区域分布控制。这项研究将导致对神秘的下密西西比河沃尔索尔斯蒂安相进行最全面的古生物研究。此外，由此获得的有关奥萨奇晚期海鞘动物的知识将是古生代大型无脊椎动物可用的最全面的数据集之一。由此产生的系统学、相分布、古地理和群落古生态的区域综合将为未来的研究提供丰富的资源，以解决基本的进化和古生态问题。

With the basic sedimentology and taphonomy of limestone buildups known in the Fort Payne Formation, a detailed systematic study of the crinoid fauna (Phylum Echinodermata) will be made. The Fort Payne Formation is Lower Mississippian (late Osagean; approximately 350 million years old), and this study will be conducted in rocks from south-central Kentucky. Where these rocks are in the subsurface, they are oil and gas producers. Because crinoidal remains are the dominant component in the limestone buildups, it is vital to document fully their diversity and to understand their paleoecologic distribution. This will result in a better understanding of the origin and distribution of these limestones. Specific objectives of the proposed research include 1, species-level systematics of the Fort Payne crinoid fauna, including documentation of within-species variations from the large collections available; 2, determination of the crinoid species composition of Fort Payne paleocommunities; 3, evaluation of the faunal role in the differential development of limestone buildups; 4, integration of these data with crinoid species distributions throughout the midcontinental U.S. in order to understand better the regional distributional controls on late Osagean crinoids. This research will result in the most thoroughly documented paleontologic study of the enigmatic Lower Mississippian Walsortian facies. Further the resulting knowledge of late Osagean crinoids will be one of the most comprehensive data sets available for Paleozoic macroinvertebrates. The resulting regional synthesis of systematics, facies distribution, paleogeography and community paleoecology will be a rich source for future research to which fundamental evolutionary and paleoecologic questions can be addressed.