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

在了解了佩恩堡组石灰岩堆积的基本沉积学和地层学的基础上，将对棘皮动物（棘皮门）进行详细系统的研究。佩恩堡地层是下密西西比时期（奥萨吉世晚期，大约有3.5亿年的历史），这项研究将在肯塔基州中南部的岩石中进行。这些岩石在地下的地方，它们是石油和天然气的生产者。由于海百合遗迹是石灰岩堆积的主要成分，因此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石的起源和分布。拟议研究的具体目标包括：1、对佩恩堡海百合动物群进行物种级的系统分类，包括记录现有大量标本的种内变异；2、Payne堡古群落海百合种类组成测定；3、评价动物在石灰岩堆积差异发育中的作用；4、将这些数据与整个美国中部大陆的海百合物种分布相结合，以便更好地了解晚奥萨吉世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沃尔索尔相的最彻底的古生物学研究。此外，对晚奥沙世海百合的认识将成为古生代大型无脊椎动物最全面的数据集之一。由此产生的系统分类学、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，从而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; appoximately 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 crinois 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.