Paleolandscape-reconstructions of tectonically active regions - a new tool to predict fossil site locations and discern patterns of hominin inhabitance

构造活跃的景观在理解我们人类祖先的进化和分散中起着关键作用。在非洲，最早发现的人类化石与东非裂谷的构造活跃区有关，而北美最古老的人类存在也位于构造活跃的美国西部。但在长期的构造、地貌和气候过程的推动下，早期人类居住的景观经历了巨大的变化。因此，对构造和地貌过程的风格和速度进行量化，并重建它们对景观演变的影响，是一种“倒转时钟”的有力方法，通过这种方法，可以将景观可视化，因为它们可能存在于某个更早的时间。我的提议的目的是在科罗拉多大学博尔德分校的环境科学合作研究所（CIRES）开展一项研究，在构造活跃的环境中重建区域尺度的自然景观，并确定促进人类土地利用的关键因素。利用地质地貌遥感分析和计算机建模方法的结合，我的目标是创建一个古景观模型，具有早期人类景观居住的关键时间片。我将把我的研究重点放在两个关键地点：东非和北美西部。东非的南肯尼亚裂谷是一个以其丰富的上新世-更新世人类遗址而闻名的地区。美国西部的俄勒冈州南部因在北美最后一个冰河时代末期最早发现现代人类而闻名。这两个目标区域具有相似的构造地貌特征，例如火山高原景观中间隔紧密的伸展断层，以及一系列以复杂的古湖泊历史为特征的断界内排湖盆地。通过对两个研究区域的比较，我的目的是表明，在人类进化的不同阶段，构造活跃地区的景观特征组合创造了促进人类定居和扩散的不同条件。本研究结果将：(1)完善早期人类如何策略性地开发复杂景观中有益元素的古环境和古人类学解释；(2)为在世界上其他构造活跃地区发现古人类化石遗址提供了新的方法。

Tectonically active landscapes play a key role in understanding the evolution and dispersal of our human ancestors. In Africa, the earliest findings of hominin fossils are associated with the tectonically active sectors of the East African Rift, and the oldest dated human presence in North America is also located in the tectonically active western United States. But the landscapes inhabited by early humans have undergone massive changes over time, driven by long-term tectonic, geomorphic and climatic processes. Quantifying styles and rates of tectonic and geomorphological processes and reconstructing their impact on landscape evolution is thus a powerful method to 'wind back the clock' and by this to visualize landscapes as they might have existed at some earlier time. The aim of my proposal is to carry out a research study at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at University of Colorado, Boulder, to reconstruct physical landscapes at regional scales in tectonically active settings and to identify key elements promoting hominin land use. Using a combination of geological and geomorphological remote sensing analysis and computer modeling approaches, I aim to create a paleolandscape model, featuring time slices critical for early human landscape inhabitance. I will focus my research on two key locations: East Africa and western North America. The southern Kenya Rift in East Africa is an area well-known for its high abundance of Plio-Pleistocene hominin sites. Southern Oregon in the western United States is famous for one of the earliest findings of modern humans at the end of the last ice age in North America. Both target regions share similar tectonogeomorphic features, such as closely-spaced extensional faults in volcanic plateau landscapes, as well as a series of fault-bounded and internally drained lake basins characterized by a complex paleolake history. By comparing the two study regions I aim to show that throughout different stages of human evolution a combination of landscape features characteristic for tectonically active regions created distinct conditions promoting hominin settlement and dispersal. Results of this study will: (1) improve paleoenvironmental and paleoanthropological interpretations related to how early humans have strategically exploited beneficial elements of complex landscapes; (2) lead to new methods in discovering hominin fossil sites in other tectonically active regions in the world.