EAR-PF:Stratigraphic paleobiology in continental settings: Developing a sequence-stratigraphic framework of fossil preservation in continental deposits through model building and

凯瑟琳·拉夫尼博士获得了美国国家科学基金会博士后奖学金，在史蒂文·霍兰德博士的指导下，在乔治亚大学研究化石保存的大规模控制。许多因素有助于化石的保存，包括植物和动物生活的栖息地，以及控制其遗骸埋葬的地质过程。在海洋环境中，水深是生境、沉积和动物数量的主要控制因素，因此可以研究海洋系统的岩石和化石记录与它们的相互驱动关系。在陆地上，构造、气候、海拔和河流过程是生物栖息地空间分布和埋藏的重要控制因素。这些控制的相互作用是复杂的，并没有像海洋领域那样得到广泛的研究。该项目的目的是研究化石的保存与陆地环境对栖息地和埋藏的控制之间的关系。通过模拟不同构造和气候状态下的化石成藏，预测沉积盆地填充物中化石的产状，并对预测结果进行实地验证，可以更好地约束大尺度的保存驱动因素。该项目的成果将加强对构造、气候和沉积过程如何控制化石保存的理解，并将允许预测含化石地层的发生。该项目将让本科生参与野外和实验室工作，而项目成果将被纳入野外古生物学课程，为研究生的培训和教育做出贡献。此外，该项目将成为公共博物馆展示的基础。调节作用和沉积作用是沉积相分布的两个主要控制因素，可以用层序地层学来评价。地层古生物学将化石记录与层序地层结构相结合，揭示了化石相的可预测产状。本研究的目的是应用层序地层学原理来了解大陆伸展-盆地层序中化石相的分布与调节和沉积历史的关系。伸展盆地是陆相化石记录的重要宝库，其构造和相演化具有可预测性和较好的特征。Loughney博士将：1)开发一个冲积系统域化石聚集的概念模型，该模型结合了伸展大陆盆地中基底内外对沉积的控制，2)在内华达州中新世斯图尔特河谷群的野外工作中对该模型进行测试。通过斯图尔特山谷群描述化石位置的相关系和地层分布将测试模型的预测，并展示化石保存如何通过盆地的调节和沉积历史而变化。这项研究将使大陆植物和动物的进化和灭绝模式与盆地的地层学和保存相结合。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Dr. Katharine Loughney has been awarded an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship to investigate large-scale controls on fossil preservation at the University of Georgia under the mentorship of Dr. Steven Holland. Many factors contribute to the preservation of fossils, including the habitats in which plants and animals lived, and the geologic processes that control the burial of their remains. In marine environments, water depth is a major control on habitat, sedimentation, and animal abundance, and the rock and fossil records of marine systems can therefore be studied in relation to their mutual drivers. On land, tectonics, climate, elevation, and stream processes are important controls on the spatial distribution of habitats and the burial of organisms. The interaction of these controls is complex and has not been as extensively studied as those in the marine realm. The goal of this project is to study the preservation of fossils in relation to the controls on habitat and burial in terrestrial environments. Through modeling fossil accumulation under varying tectonic and climatic states to predict the occurrence of fossils in sedimentary basin fill, and by testing these predictions in the field, the large-scale drivers of preservation can be better constrained. The outcomes of this project will enhance understanding of how tectonics, climate, and sedimentation processes control fossil preservation and will allow the occurrence of fossil-bearing strata to be predicted. This project will involve undergraduate students in field and laboratory work, while project findings will be incorporated into field-based paleontology courses to contribute to the training and education of graduate students. Additionally, the project will be the basis for public museum displays.Accommodation and sedimentation are the two main stratigraphic controls on the distribution of sedimentary facies, which can be evaluated using sequence stratigraphy. Stratigraphic paleobiology integrates the fossil record with sequence-stratigraphic architecture, revealing the predictable occurrence of fossiliferous facies. The goal of the proposed research is to apply the principles of sequence stratigraphy to understand the distribution of fossiliferous facies in relation to the history of accommodation and sedimentation in continental extensional-basin sequences. Extensional basins are important repositories of the continental fossil record, and their tectonic and facies evolution is predictable and well characterized. Dr. Loughney will: 1) develop a conceptual model of fossil accumulation in alluvial systems tracts that incorporates the intra- and extrabasinal controls on sedimentation in extensional continental basins, and 2) test the model with field work in the Miocene Stewart Valley Group of Nevada. Characterizing the facies relationships and stratigraphic occurrence of fossil localities through the Stewart Valley Group will test the predictions of the model and demonstrate how fossil preservation changes through the history of accommodation and sedimentation in the basin. This research will enable patterns of evolution and extinction in continental plants and animals to be integrated with stratigraphy and preservation across basins.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.