Single Crystal 40Ar/39Ar Age Calibration of the Non-Marine Fossil-Bearing Late Cretaceous-Tertiary of Western North America

两年的资金支持一个正在进行的跨学科计划，通过广泛应用高精度SCLF（单晶激光聚变）40 Ar/39 Ar和常规40 K-40 Ar定年来校准北美非海洋化石沉积岩和相关的磁性地层学。PI将收集、准备和测定与Lancian-Puercan（第三纪）、Clarkforkian（L.古新世-E.始新世）、查德隆期至Hemjingfordian（L.始新世-渐新世-E.中新世）时代。在过去一年中获得的结果和本研究的预测结果将为北美化石动物群、植物群和相关磁性地层学的数字年龄校准提供精确和准确的校准点。高分辨率年龄将作为1）北美陆地哺乳动物年龄及其细分的校准，2）NALMA与欧洲标准阶段/年龄的相关性，3）MPTS校准的基础（磁极性时标），4）一个独立的年表，用于确定化石脊椎动物和植物的形态进化速度;解释北美西部沉积盆地的时间历史，包括沉积、沉降和隆起速率。

Two years of funding supports an ongoing interdisciplinary program to calibrate North American non-marine fossil-bearing sedimentary rocks and associated magnetostratigraphies through extensive application of high precision SCLF (Single Crystal Laser Fusion) 40Ar/39Ar and conventional 40K-40Ar dating. PIs will collect,k prepare and date volcanic rocks associated with magnetostratigraphies developed or currently being developed on non-marine strata of Lancian-Puercan (Cretaceous-Tertiary), Clarkforkian (L. Paleocene-E. Eocene), and Chadronian through Hemjingfordian (L. Eocene-Oligocene-E. Miocene) ages. The results obtained over the past year and the projected results of this study will provide precise and accurate calibration points for the numerical age calibration of North American fossil faunas, floras and associated lmagnetostratigraphies. The high resolution ages will serve as a basis for 1) the calibration North American Land Mammal "Ages" and their subdivisions, 2) the correlation of NALMAs to standard European stage/ages, 3) the calibration of the MPTS (Magnetic Polarity Time Scale), 4) an independent chronology for determining rates of morphologic evolution in fossil vertebrates and plants and 5) the interpretation of the temporal histories of sedimentary basins of western North America, including sedimentation, subsidence and uplift rates.