Collaborative Research: Comparing Upper Ordovician-Lower Silurian Carbonate Platforms in Estonia and the Great Basin: A Test of Synchrony of Sequences and Faunal Changes

合作研究：爱沙尼亚和大盆地上奥陶统-下志留统碳酸盐岩平台的对比：层序与动物群变化同步性的测试主要调查者在大盆地以前的工作中记录了与北美其他地区描述的不整合绑定岩石单位(层序)。动物群的重组与层序边界相吻合，这表明最大的物理破坏与群落水平的变化之间存在因果联系。这项研究将测试序列与其他大陆区块的群落重组的相关性，地方性(地方性)与世界性(世界性)动物群的群落变化程度，以及群落变化的可能机制。该提案的核心是通过与五名爱沙尼亚同事的合作研究，对波罗的海段进行详细的沉积学、层序地层学和古生物学研究。爱沙尼亚段位于不同的陆块上，既有地方性的奥陶纪动物群，也有世界性的志留纪动物群，并包含了奥陶纪末期主要的古生代灭绝事件之一。此外，现有的大量古生物和沉积学数据(包括同位素地层学)，可以从露头(提供良好的动物群信息)和岩心(提供从陆架地区到盆地的几乎完整的地层覆盖)进行研究。这些特征将允许开发一个地层模型，在该模型中，动物群的分布可以很容易地建立起来，并与大盆地模式进行比较。该提案包括为九名科学家之间为期三年的合作提供资金：两名首席研究员、一名博士后研究员、一名硕士学生和五名爱沙尼亚科学家。(部分费用可能由NSFU国际项目部承担。)它将极大地促进美国和东欧科学家之间的国际合作，并为首席研究人员和理工学院学生提供国际研究经验。此外，这项研究的奥陶系部分还将为新建立的国际全球对比项目410(奥陶系全球生物多样性)做出贡献，主要研究人员和爱沙尼亚科学家都在积极参与该项目。

Collaborative Research: Comparing Upper Ordovician-Lower Silurian Carbonate Platforms in Estonia and the Great Basin: A Test of the Synchrony of Sequences and Faunal Changes The principal investigatorsU previous work in the Great Basin documented unconformity-bound rock units (sequences) that correlate to those described elsewhere in North America. Reorganizations of faunal communities coincided with sequence boundaries, suggesting a causal link between maximum physical disruption and community-level changes. This study will test the correlation of sequences to community reorganizations in other continental blocks, the extent of community changes in endemic(localized) versus cosmopolitan (worldwide) faunas, and the possible mechanisms for community change. The heart of the proposal is a detailed sedimentological, sequence stratigraphy, and paleontological study of the Baltic section through a collaborative study with five Estonian colleagues. The Estonian section was located on a different continental block, contains both endemic Ordovician and cosmopolitan Silurian faunas, and brackets one of the major Paleozoic extinction events at the end of the Ordovician. In addition, there is a large amount of existing paleontological and sedimentological data (including isotope stratigraphy), and it can be studied in both outcrop (providing good faunal information) and core (providing nearly complete stratigraphic coverage from shelf areas into the basin). These characteristics will allow development of a stratigraphic model withinwhich faunal distributions can be readily established and compared to the Great Basin patterns. The proposal includes funding for a three-year collaboration among nine scientists: two principal investigators, one post-doctoral investigator, one MS student, and five Estonian scientists. (Some costs may be covered by NSFUs Division of International Programs.) It will significantly foster international collaboration between US and Eastern European scientists, and provide the principal investigators and the MSstudent international research experience. In addition, the Ordovician part of this study will also contribute to the newly established International Global Correlation Project 410 (Ordovician Global Biodiversity) in which both the principal investigators and Estonianscientists are active.