US - Egypt Cooperative Research: Climate Change and Biotic Effects During the Late Cretaceous of Egypt

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。这项合作研究项目由普林斯顿大学的Gerta Keller博士和埃及南谷大学的Abdel Aziz Tantawy博士共同承担，目的是收集必要的长期生物、矿物学和地球化学记录，以了解温室-冰窖过渡和白垩纪晚期的环境变化。坎帕尼亚-马斯特里赫特间隔期是地球历史上的一个关键时期。它标志着(1)长期的全球变冷伴随着海平面和生产力的波动，(2)见证了大多数温室世界动植物的逐渐消亡，以及物种的进化和适应策略，这些物种试图在不断变化的古环境中生存，但大多数都失败了，(3)见证了白垩纪末期地球上五次大灭绝之一。这些全球性事件在特提斯东部和埃及的大陆架沉积物中尤为明显。这种转变伴随着海平面波动和间歇性的富有机物沉积，这些沉积形成了目前已知的大多数石油、天然气和磷矿床。对这些沉积物的研究，如本项目所提议的，可以提供关键信息，帮助了解与主要气候转变相关的环境和生物变化。主要研究目标是建立一个综合的多学科的晚白垩纪气候、海平面和埃及生物变化的历史，特别强调矿物和富含有机物的沉积物，这些沉积物可以提供关于气候变暖的生物后果的科学信息。拟议的研究将包括古生物学、稳定同位素、矿物学和地球化学。这些结果将为了解温室-冰窖过渡提供必要的长期生物、矿物学和地球化学记录，显著提高我们对长期和短期生物多样性变化的认识，并阐明导致坎帕尼亚纪白垩纪动物减少并导致K-T大灭绝的环境条件。该数据库将直接应用于该地区未来的古环境研究。这项研究涉及美国科学家与其他三个国家（埃及、德国和瑞士）的国际合作，以及美国学生（研究生和本科生）参与国际研究的机会。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This collaborative research project is being undertaken by Dr. Gerta Keller, Princeton University, and Dr. Abdel Aziz Tantawy, South Valley University in Egypt, to collect the necessary long-term biotic, mineralogical and geochemical records needed to understand the greenhouse-icehouse transition and the late Cretaceous environmental changes. The Campanian-Maastrichtian interval is a critical time period in Earth's history. It marks (1) the long-term global cooling accompanied by fluctuations in sea-level and productivity, (2) witnessed the gradual demise of most of the greenhouse world fauna and flora and the evolution and adaptive strategies of species trying to survive in the changing paleoenvironment, but mostly failing, and (3) witnessed one of Earth's five major mass extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous. These global events are most pronounced in the continental shelf sediments of the eastern Tethys and Egypt in particular. The transition was accompanied by sea level fluctuations and intermittent organic-rich sedimentation that created most of the currently known oil, gas and phosphorite deposits. Study of these sediments, as proposed in this project can yield critical information to help understand the environmental and biotic changes associated with major climatic transitions.The main research objective is to develop a comprehensive integrated multi-disciplinary history of late Cretaceous climate, sea-level and biotic changes in Egypt with special emphasis on mineral and organic-rich deposits that yield scientific information regarding biotic consequences of climate warming. The proposed study will include paleontology, stable isotopes, mineralogy, and geochemistry. The results will provide the necessary long-term biotic, mineralogical and geochemical records needed to understand the greenhouse-icehouse transition, significantly improve our understanding of both long-term and short-term biotic diversity changes, and elucidate the environmental conditions that led to the decline of the Cretaceous fauna during the Campanian and leading up to the K-T mass extinction. The database generated will be directly applicable to future paleoenvironmental studies of the region.This study involves international collaboration between US scientists and those of 3 other countries (Egypt, Germany, and Switzerland), as well as opportunities for US student (graduate and undergraduate) participation in international research.