Award Abstract # 0519079
Collaborative Research: AUTOMATED SEQUENCING OF THE FOSSIL RECORD: IMPROVED METHODS AND INSIGHTS FROM MOHAWKIAN (ORDOVICIAN) GEOCHRONOLOGY, TEPRHOCHRONOLOGY, & BIOSTRATIGRAPHY

NSF Org: EAR
Division Of Earth Sciences
Recipient: THE RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
Initial Amendment Date: September 14, 2005
Latest Amendment Date: June 24, 2007
Award Number: 0519079
Award Instrument: Continuing Grant
Program Manager: H. Richard Lane
EAR
 Division Of Earth Sciences
GEO
 Directorate for Geosciences
Start Date: September 1, 2005
End Date: August 31, 2010 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $40,777.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $40,777.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2005 = $16,299.00
FY 2006 = $15,886.00

FY 2007 = $8,592.00
History of Investigator:
  • Charles Mitchell (Principal Investigator)
    cem@buffalo.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: SUNY at Buffalo
520 LEE ENTRANCE STE 211
AMHERST
NY  US  14228-2577
(716)645-2634
Sponsor Congressional District: 26
Primary Place of Performance: SUNY at Buffalo
520 LEE ENTRANCE STE 211
AMHERST
NY  US  14228-2577
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
26
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): LMCJKRFW5R81
Parent UEI: GMZUKXFDJMA9
NSF Program(s): Sedimentary Geo & Paleobiology
Primary Program Source: app-0105 
app-0106 

app-0107 
Program Reference Code(s): 0000, OTHR
Program Element Code(s): 745900
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.050

ABSTRACT

The end-product of ongoing geoinformatics initiatives in stratigraphy and paleontology will be an online
electronic stratigraphic record. It faces three challenges: to compile sufficient data, to integrate
multiple databases, and to maintain tools that can assemble all the local data records into a geologic time
line. The third challenge amounts to sequencing the fossil record and we propose to address three of the
obstacles it faces: (1) Fossil biotas of the same age may differ as a result of habitat and preservation
effects; (2) Very large data sets must be sequenced in smaller pieces and the results stitched seamlessly
together; (3) Increasing numbers of dated and fingerprinted ash beds need to used more effectively. We
propose a case study of manageable geographic and temporal extent that, nevertheless, raises these same
issues. The Ordovician and Silurian periods span almost 100 million years of early Paleozoic time and are
traditionally subdivided by graptolites and conodonts - two fossil clades with different ecological and
preservational traits that restrict their use to largely mutually exclusive domains.
The Mohawkian (Late Ordovician) of eastern North America presents precisely the type of
challenging geological environment in which to build and test the temporal sequencing and stitching
approaches that we envision. Mohawkian strata are widely exposed in the region and yield a rich fossil
record that includes diverse, but somewhat endemic, conodont faunas. The epicratonic succession is
rimmed along the Appalachian margin by deeper water sediments of the Taconic foreland basin. These
strata contain a suite of inter-continentally distributed graptolite faunas, but few described conodont
assemblages. Numerous altered volcanic ash deposits (K-bentonites) link these facies through a set of
transitional facies along the interior basin margin. Despite these advantages, the prevalence of short
sections, structural complexity, and facies limitation of the faunas impedes precise and reliable correlation
between the cratonic and basinal successions, consequently limiting our ability to compare their disparate
faunas and tectonic histories.
Intellectual Merit: We propose to combine (1) geochemical fingerprinting (tephrochronology) and
U-Pb geochronology of K-bentonites from the Mohawkian and early Cincinnatian with (2) a restudy of
late Mohawkian conodonts and graptolites from eleven regions across eastern North America and (3)
computer assisted sequencing of the global Ordovician conodont and graptolite fossil record. This work
will provide a detailed temporal and paleoecological framework within which to refine the application of
biofacies information to the temporal sequencing of the fossil record via rigorous quantitative techniques.
We will focus in steps 1 and 2 particularly on conodont and graptolite-bearing successions that contain Kbentonites,
and especially on regions where conodonts and graptolites occur in close association.
The results of our work in a time interval that remains troublesome in spite of a wide range of timestratigraphic
information will bear upon fundamental questions in both local and global stratigraphy. In
the course of this study we will test existing alternate correlation models for the mid Upper Ordovician of
central and eastern North America. The results will provide an improved, age-calibrated basis for studies
of faunal turnover and diversity change in the Ordovician and Silurian. Most importantly, the work will
lead to the development of improved techniques for time scale construction and validation.
Broader Impact: The data and tools we develop will be shared immediately through the CHRONOS
project and will investigate technological solutions that are not being addressed by CHRONOS to
sequence events. The project meets the EARTHTIME goal of cross-training stratigraphers and
geochronologists in developing high precision time-scales. We will train two PhD students (one a
minority), and three undergraduates. We will integrate the efforts of four institutions, two with large
minority enrolment (UCR, UALR), in a new collaboration that will facilitate the interaction of all the
students and PIs at each institution. Undergraduates will participate as field and lab assistants for the PIs
and for the graduate students, and will be given pieces of the project as senior research projects. Each
student will present aspects of the research at a professional meeting. The project will also include a
secondary school teacher who will work alongside PI Leslie during the summer as part of the Arkansas
STRIVE program. The teacher will develop class projects based on their experiences. The project thus
impacts future generations of students by enhancing a secondary education teacher's knowledge base and
scientific curriculum.

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