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

GSTDTAP

项目编号	1725762
	EAR-PF: Testing the boundaries of Burgess Shale-Type preservation with literature meta-analysis, decay experimentation, and fossil investigation
	Evan Anderson
主持机构	Anderson Evan P
项目开始年	2017
	2017-10-01
项目结束日期	2019-09-30
资助机构	US-NSF
项目类别	Fellowship
项目经费	174000(USD)
国家	美国
语种	英语
英文摘要	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).
文献类型	项目
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.173/C666/handle/2XK7JSWQ/72046
专题	环境与发展全球科技态势
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Evan Anderson.EAR-PF: Testing the boundaries of Burgess Shale-Type preservation with literature meta-analysis, decay experimentation, and fossil investigation.2017.