Collaborative Research: Linking Modern Benthic Communities and Taphonomic Processes to the Stratigraphic Record of Antarctic Cores

这个项目回答了一个简单的问题：为什么南极洲沉积物岩心中化石如此之少？美国大陆架？南极洲?美国的底栖生物和热带地区的底栖生物一样丰富。分泌壳的生物应该在整个地质时期留下痕迹，但是没有。这条线索特别重要，因为这些生物记录区域气候的方式对解释全球气候记录至关重要。本研究利用实地实验和对现代底栖生物系统的有针对性的观察来检验化石保存造成的偏见。通过研究一系列受冰影响的栖息地，该项目提供了关于碳酸盐保存、沉积速率和埋藏过程的古环境见解；并将为重建南极洲新生代历史提供新的方法。更广泛的影响包括研究生和本科生的研究和教育，连接艺术和科学的本科课程的发展，K12的推广，通过网络的公众推广，以及通过提高对全球气候变化记录的理解而产生的社会相关性。

This project answers a simple question: why are there so few fossils in sediment cores from Antarctica?s continental shelf? Antarctica?s benthos are as biologically rich as those of the tropics. Shell-secreting organisms should have left a trail throughout geologic time, but have not. This trail is particularly important because these organisms record regional climate in ways that are critical to interpreting the global climate record. This study uses field experiments and targeted observations of modern benthic systems to examine the biases inflicted by fossil preservation. By examining a spectrum of ice-affected habitats, this project provides paleoenvironmental insights into carbonate preservation, sedimentation rates, and burial processes; and will provide new approaches to reconstructing the Cenozoic history of Antarctica. Broader impacts include graduate and undergraduate research and education, development of undergraduate curricula to link art and science, K12 outreach, public outreach via the web, and societal relevance through improved understanding of records of global climate change.