EarthShape - BOFEDAL: Biota's forcing of earth surface dynamics ascertained on land and sea

地球形状的主要目标之一是量化生物过程，这些过程在关键地带改变了地球的形状。除了对现代过程及其建模的监测外，阿塔卡马沙漠中一些生物过程的低强度需要考虑至少几十到几千年的时间才能测量。在（最近极度）干旱的阿塔卡马沙漠中，生物过程最显著地受到水的可用性的控制。由于降水在这些时间尺度上变化很大，在几十年到几千年的尺度上，由于气候变化，过程强度的变化和波动性必须在定量方法中加以考虑。强烈建议查阅这些时间尺度的古气候资料。作为泥炭和矿物沉积物的古气候档案提供了基于气候代用物（如微/宏观化石、沉积物及其地球化学）的对过去环境的洞察。然而，高度可变的干旱土地生物地球动力学阻止了连续档案的形成，这是EarthShape方法所要求的！因此，那些位于智利极度干旱沿海沙漠的优先项目主要重点区域只能提供不连续的古气候记录。古气候记录中存在的空白需要最近的连续信息的框架和补充，而这些信息必须通过研究区域古气候背景来提供。在我们的项目中，我们的目标是研究全新世中晚期沿海地区（主要关注区域Pan de Azucar， 26°S）的生物群活动。预计这些地区的古气候记录是不连续的，缺乏分辨率。因此，获取未失真的连续信息将通过研究两个框架主记录来完成：对安第斯高原泥炭地（bofedal）及其邻近湖泊的研究和对海洋沉积物岩心（智利30°S外的GeoB 7139-2）的研究。通过这种方式，我们希望借助连续的高分辨率古气候代理数据来填补沿海沉积档案中不可避免的空白，以获得对智利中北部地区生物群控制过程变化及其强度的最佳评估，那里缺乏详细的全新世古气候信息。总之，正如2014年波茨坦地球形状研讨会期间所述，该项目通过提供许多团体为实现其个人目标所要求的基本信息，被整合到优先计划1803中。因此，这个地质生态学、地理学/地貌学和海洋地球科学之间的跨学科项目本身就是一个前沿的综合合作，将陆地和海洋专业知识汇集在EarthShape的保护伞下。此外，与其他倡议的直接联系是显而易见的，特别是在植被动态、土壤形成、生物化学风化和景观稳定方面，特别是在主要重点地区Pan de Azucar。

One of the main goals of EarthShape is the quantification of biotic processes, which modify the earth shape in the critical zone. Besides monitoring of modern processes and its modelling, the low intensity of some biotic processes in the Atacama Desert needs a period of consideration of at least tens to thousands of years to be measurable. Biotic processes in the (recently hyper-)arid Atacama desert are most prominently controlled by the availability of water. As precipitation was highly variable at these timescales, the modification and volatility of process intensities on the scale of decades to millennia, due to climatic changes, has to be considered in quantitative approaches. Paleoclimatic information on these timescales is strongly recommended. Paleoclimatic archives as peat and mineral sediments offer an insight to past environments based on climatic proxies, e.g. micro-/macrofossils, sediments and its geochemistry. However, highly variable arid land bio-geodynamics prevent the formation of continuous archives, which the EarthShape approach calls for! Therefore, those priority program primary focus areas located in the hyper-arid costal desert of Chile only offer discontinuous records of paleoclimate. Existing gaps in paleoclimatic records need framing and completion by the nearest continuous information, which has to be made available by studying the regional paleoclimatic context. In our project, we aim to study the activity of biota in the coastal area during the mid- to late Holocene (primary focus area Pan de Azucar, 26° S). Paleoclimatic records at these areas are expected to be discontinuous and lack resolution. Hence, the acquisition of undistorted, continuous information will be done by the study of two framing master records: the study of a high Andean peatland (bofedal) and adjacent lake and the study of a marine sediment core (GeoB 7139-2, 30° S off Chile). By this means, we want to fill the unavoidable gaps in coastal sedimentary archives with the help of continuous high-resolution paleoclimatic proxy data to get the best possible assessment of changes in biota-controlled processes and their intensity in north central Chile, where detailed Holocene paleoclimatic information is missing. In summary, this project is integrated in priority program 1803 by providing essential information which was asked for by many groups to reach their individual goals, as stated during the EarthShape workshop 2014 in Potsdam. Therefore, this interdisciplinary project between geoecology, geography/geomorphology and marine geosciences is by itself a cutting-edge integrative collaboration, bringing together terrestrial and marine expertise under the umbrella of EarthShape. Furthermore, immediate linkages to other initiatives are obvious, particularly regarding vegetation dynamics, soil formation, biochemical weathering and stabilization of landscapes most notably in the primary focus area Pan de Azucar.