Paleoenvironmental and Paleoclimatic Analysis of the Beacon Supergroup, Beardmore Glacier Area, Central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica

智力优势：该提案将研究Beardmore冰川区（BGA）Beacon超群大陆和海洋沉积物中遗迹化石的多样性，丰度和分层模式。PI将侧重于包含各种遗迹化石和古土壤的大陆地层。遗迹化石将评估其建筑和表面形态，并将与现代和古代的痕迹进行比较，以解释tracemaker行为和古环境设置。遗迹化石在这些单元内的分布可能表明成土作用的横向变化、沉积事件的幅度和频率、沉积物内的水分含量以及气候变化的影响。遗迹化石的古气候意义将通过比较洞穴的大小，发生，分层和遗迹化石的成土意义，在全球变暖和变冷事件期间沉积的地层单位的测量部分来确定。将BGA地层与沉积在具有先前确定的古气候背景的低古纬度的地层等效岩石进行比较。本项目的目标是解决两个主要问题：高和低古纬度之间的海洋和大陆沉积物中的遗迹多样性，丰度和分层存在什么差异，以及在晚古生代和中生代，特别是在河流和湖泊环境中，与当时海洋领域的栖息地使用相比，大陆沉积物中的栖息地使用是否缺乏？更广泛的影响：这项研究将提高在亚环境尺度上解释古环境的能力，了解高古纬度土壤生物区系和生态系统的演变，确定生物在高古纬度土壤形成中的作用，探索气候变化对土壤群落中生物体大小和多样性的影响，并开发解释高纬度古气候的新工具。这一建议有很强的教育内容。

Intellectual Merit: This proposal will study the diversity, abundance, and tiering patterns of ichnofossils in continental and marine deposits of the Beacon Supergroup in the Beardmore Glacier Area (BGA). The PIs will focus on continental strata that contain a variety of ichnofossils and paleosols. Ichnofossils will be evaluated for their architectural and surficial morphologies, and will be compared to modern and ancient traces to interpret the tracemaker behavior and paleoenvironmental setting. Distribution of ichnofossils within these units may indicate the effect of lateral variability of pedogenesis, the magnitude and frequency of depositional events, and the amount of moisture within the sediment, as well as the effects of climate change. The paleoclimatic significance of ichnofossils will be determined by comparing the burrow size, occurrence, tiering, and pedogenic significance of ichnofossils in measured sections of stratigraphic units deposited during global warming and cooling episodes. Comparisons will be made between BGA formations to stratigraphically equivalent rocks deposited at low paleolatitudes with previously determined paleoclimatic settings. The objectives of this project are to address two major questions: what differences existed in ichnodiversity, abundance, and tiering in marine and continental deposits between high- and low-paleolatitudes, and was there a dearth of habitat usage in continental deposits during the late Paleozoic and Mesozoic, particularly in fluvial and lacustrine environments compared to the habitat usage in the marine realm at that time? Broader impacts: This study will enhance the ability to interpret paleoenvironments to the subenvironmental scale, understand the evolution of soil biota and ecosystems at high paleolatitudes, determine the role of organisms in soil formation at high paleolatitudes, explore the effects of climate change on the body size and diversity of organisms in the soil communities, and develop new tools to interpret paleoclimate in high latitudes. There is a strong education component associated with this proposal.