Geological and Paleontological Research in Pakistan

技术说明：该提案将允许巴基斯坦地质调查局（GSP）副主任S.M. Raza博士与布朗大学的John J. Kelley博士参与合作研究。自1973年以来，在巴基斯坦地质调查局的合作下，在Siwalik地区开展了一个地质和古生物学实地项目。Raza博士从一开始就一直是该项目的主要参与者。目前研究的主要目标是在巴基斯坦西瓦里克山因喜马拉雅山脉隆起而沉积的侵蚀碎屑中寻找中新世古人类。挖掘地点是化石，对高等灵长类动物进化的早期状态提供了大量信息。另一个研究目标是重建过去环境的自然和植被环境，从而了解南亚哺乳动物种群及其栖息地的演变，这一目标已发展成为一项大型多学科努力。项目将同时进行野外考察、化石数据库建设和分析。拉扎博士将在接下来的两个夏天在美国进行他在项目范围内的研究，并为《人类进化杂志》准备一个关于Siwalik的特刊。该提案要求为适当管理和利用Siwalik项目收集的4万多件化石标本所需的设备和用品提供资金。最后，还要求提供经费，让私人调查团访问巴基斯坦，建立一个电脑化的化石数据库，并培训普惠制工作人员。范围：除了双方机构的共同利益和从合作研究中获得的科学知识外，该项目还将通过培训和促进机构建设来发展人力资源，不仅通过加强与GSP的机构联系，而且通过资助其磁地层实验室所需的剩余设备，使其成为一个完全现代化的设施。这对于一个在古生物学财富方面是发展中国家中最富有的国家来说是合适的。

Technical Narrative: This proposal will allow Dr. S.M. Raza, Deputy Director of the Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) to participate in collaborative research with Dr. John J. Kelley, Brown University. Since 1973, a geological and paleontological field project has been operative in the Siwalik region in collaboration with the Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP). Dr. Raza has been a key participant in the project since its beginning. The primary goal of the current research is to look for Miocene hominoids in the erosional debris deposited in the Siwalik Hills of Pakistan by the uplift of the Himalaya Mountains. The excavation site is fossiliferous and highly informative about earlier states of higher primate evolution. Another research goal which has evolved into a large multidisciplinary effort is to reconstruct the physical and vegetational settings of past environments and thus come to an understanding of the evolution of South Asian mammal faunas and their habitats. The project will proceed simultaneously in fieldwork, fossil data base construction and analysis. Dr. Raza will be in the United States during the next two summers to carry out his research within the project context and to prepare a special issue on the Siwalik for the Journal of Human Evolution. The proposal requests funds for equipment and supplies necessary for the proper curation and utilization of the more than 40,000 fossil speciments collected by the Siwalik project. Finally, funds are requested for the PI to visit Pakistan to install a computerized fossil database and for the training of the GSP staff. Scope: Apart from the mutual benefits to both institutions and to scientific knowledge from this cooperative research, the project will develop human resources through training and promote institution building not only by strengthening the institutional links with the GSP but by funding the remaining equipment needed to make their magnetostratigraphy laboratory a thoroughly up-to- date facility. This is appropriate for a country that, in terms of its paleontological wealth, is one of the richest in the developing world.