EAR-PF: Testing the boundaries of Burgess Shale-Type preservation with literature meta-analysis, decay experimentation, and fossil investigation

埃文安德森博士已被授予博士后奖学金，在密苏里州大学开展研究和教育计划。该研究计划将侧重于从多个途径研究伯吉斯页岩型（BST）软体动物保护模式，以更好地了解这种古生物学重要保护模式的范围和运作机制。软体化石可以提供化石记录中其他地方无法获得的生态和进化信息。教育活动将包括为K12和本科生开发教学模块。这些模块的材料将包括常见的软体材料（即笔石和植物碎片），特殊软体材料的3D打印和传统打印输出，以及为本研究收集的材料。这项调查将有三个组成部分。首先，文献荟萃分析将研究和扩展特殊的软体化石沉积物（或lagerstätten）的纲要，以隔离BST和BST类沉积物在整个地球历史。对这些矿床进行比较，既可以突出共同的特征，又可以探索BST矿化模式的变化。其次，衰变实验将测试两种BST保存模型在减缓软体降解方面的有效性。一个实验将测试的假设，复杂的生物扰动防止BST保存氧化沉积物，并通过模拟不同种类的洞穴穿透沉积物中的腐烂生物被埋葬，提高腐烂。第二个实验将检验这一假设，即钙和碱度水平的升高允许在BST矿床中形成方解石渗透性密封，保护埋藏的生物体免受降解。最后，基于化石的调查将比较埋藏环境和化石保存的新收集的材料从BST一样温尼希克和沃基沙lagerstätten传统的开放海洋BST存款从寒武纪众议院范围的犹他州。虽然类BST矿床来自水循环受限的后寒武纪矿床，但如果类BST矿床和BST矿床的化石矿物学和质量相似，则它们的埋藏环境条件应具有可比性（即方解石盖层）。

Dr. Evan Anderson has been granted an EAR Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out research and education plans at the University of Missouri. The research plan will focus on studying the Burgess Shale-type (BST) mode of soft-bodied preservation from multiple approaches to better understand the scope and operational mechanisms of this paleontologically important preservation mode. Soft-bodied fossils can provide ecological and evolutionary information available nowhere else in the fossil record. The education activities will include developing teaching modules for K12 and undergraduate students. The materials for these modules will include common softbodied materials (i.e. graptolites and plant debris), 3-D printed and traditional print-outs of exceptional soft-bodied materials, and materials collected for this study. This investigation will have three components. First, a literature meta-analysis will study and expand a compendium of exceptional soft-bodied fossil deposits (or lagerstätten) to isolate BST and BST-like deposits throughout earth history. Comparing these deposits will both highlight shared characteristics and explore the variation within the BST mode of fossilization. Second, decay experiments will test two models of BST preservation for their effectiveness in slowing soft-bodied degradation. One experiment will test the hypothesis that complex bioturbation prevents BST preservation by oxygenating sediments and enhancing decay by simulating different kinds of burrows penetrating the sediment in which a decay organism is buried. The second experiment will test the hypothesis that elevated calcium and alkalinity levels allows for the development of calcite permeability seals in BST deposits, protecting buried organisms from degradation. Finally, a fossil-based investigation will compare the burial context and fossil preservation of freshly collected material from the BST-like Winneshiek and Waukesha lagerstätten to traditional open marine BST deposits from the Cambrian House Range of Utah. Although the BST-like deposits come from post-Cambrian deposits with restricted water circulation, if the fossil preservational mineralogies and qualities are similar between the BST-like and BST deposits, then their burial environment conditions should be comparable (i.e. calcite seals).