Diatom Biostratigraphy and Paleoenvoronmental History of Cape Roberts Cores

该奖项支持一个项目，以确定罗伯茨角项目(CRP)发现的钻芯中硅藻化石的特征。CRP是国际南极地球科学界的一项重大计划，旨在对晚白垩世至古近纪(3000万至1亿年前)的南极大陆边缘地层进行采样。钻探作业将包括在两个钻探季节期间，在罗斯海西部维多利亚陆地盆地侧翼的四个地点从海冰平台连续取心。这个特殊的项目包括对罗伯茨角岩心的硅质微化石进行初步的野外古生物分析。核心部分将被运送到Crary科学与工程中心进行即时分析。硅藻和其他硅质微化石将在钻井作业中提供快速年龄和古环境信息。每个季节将包括根据硅质微化石编写初步生物地层学/古环境报告。本报告将成为CRP初始报告卷的一部分，其中将包括来自其他微化石群、岩石地层学、磁性地层学和其他分析的初步结果。对CRP岩芯中的硅藻和其他硅质微化石的分析将极大地帮助发展南部高纬度地区这一鲜为人知的地区的综合生物地层学。硅藻将提供水深、初级生产力、有无海冰等方面的环境变化的证据。CRP岩心将为研究硅藻对强烈极地季节性的适应和硅藻的演化提供一个极好的机会。他们还将通过将CRP研究与正在进行的北极地层中古近纪硅质微化石的研究(例如，大洋钻探计划第151条)相结合，提供从两极角度看待古近纪高纬度浮游植物演化的可能性。

This award supports a project to characterize the diatom fossils in drill core recovered by the Cape Roberts Project (CRP). The CRP is a major program within the international Antarctic earth science community, designed to sample Antarctic continental margin strata of late Cretaceous through Paleogene age (30 million to 100 million years ago). Drilling operations will include continuous coring from a sea ice platform at four sites on the flank of the Victoria Land basin in the western Ross Sea, during two drilling seasons. This particular project involves initial field-based paleontologic analysis of siliceous microfossils in Cape Roberts cores. Core sections will be ferried to the Crary Science and Engineering Center for immediate analysis. Diatoms and other siliceous microfossils will provide rapid age and paleoenvironmental information during drilling operations. Each season will include preparation of a preliminary biostratigraphic/paleoenvironmental report based on siliceous microfossils. This report will become part of the CRP Initial Reports volume, which will include the preliminary results from other microfossil groups, lithostratigraphic, magnetostratigraphic, and other analyses. Analysis of diatoms and other siliceous microfossils in CRP cores will greatly aid in the development of an integrated biostratigraphy for this poorly-known interval in the southern high latitudes. Diatoms will provide evidence of environmental changes in water depth, primary productivity, presence/absence of sea ice, et cetera. CRP cores will provide an excellent opportunity to study adaptation of diatoms to strong polar seasonality and diatom evolution. They will also offer the possibility of gaining a bipolar perspective on Paleogene high latitude phytoplankton evolution, by integrating CRP studies with ongoing studies of Paleogene siliceous microfossils in Arctic strata (for example, Ocean Drilling Program Leg 151).