| NSF Org: |
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | June 15, 2010 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 27, 2012 |
| Award Number: | 0944684 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Alexandra Isern
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | August 1, 2010 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2013 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $246,504.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $266,589.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2012 = $20,085.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1259 TRUMANSBURG RD ITHACA NY US 14850-1313 (607)273-6623 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1259 TRUMANSBURG RD ITHACA NY US 14850-1313 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | ANT Earth Sciences |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): | |
| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.078 |
ABSTRACT
Intellectual Merit:
The fossils of Seymour Island have been the subject of intense research over more than 30 years for topics from molluscan evolution and biogeography to the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction to global climate change. The specimens in the William Zinsmeister Collection, a comprehensive collection of Antarctic fossil molluscs, have been the basis of much of this research. The Zinsmeister Collection has not previously been easily available to researchers outside of Purdue University. This proposal seeks support to make specimen records and images widely available for the Zinsmeister Collection, recently transferred to the Paleontological Research Institution at Cornell. The Zinsmeister Collection contains approximately 22,000 specimens of Cretaceous-Eocene fossil mollusks from Seymour Island, Antarctica, including bulk samples from measured Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary sections. The PIs propose to protect the sizeable investment in this collection and ensure that its full potential is realized by making it more widely known and available to the research community through an online, publicly available, object record and image database. During this project, the collection will be upgraded to the highest curatorial standards. Easier access to information on the Zinsmeister Collection will promote Antarctic research using this material and it could be used to raise awareness of climate change, extinction, and evolution in through teaching programs.
Broader impacts:
The PIs will mount the most spectacular specimen in the collection, the heteromorphic ammonite Diplomoceras maximum, in the Cretaceous area of the permanent exhibits in Paleontological Research Institute?s (PRI) Museum of the Earth. A web based virtual exhibition hosted on PRI?s web site will be created. Building from the online exhibition, in celebration of Earth Day 2011, PRI will host a "virtual tour" of the online exhibit. A teacher professional development program will be created using specimens and data from the collection and virtual exhibits to explore topics in global change and evolution in support of secondary school science teachers. The exposure of a broader public to the collection will create awareness not only for the ongoing research in the polar regions, but also for the value of paleontological studies as important contributions to the solution of the problems of global climate change.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
In April 2009, Dr. William J. Zinsmeister, a professor of geology at Purdue University, transferred his entire research collection to the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) in Ithaca, NY. The Zinsmeister Collection contains approximately 5,700 lots (almost 22,000 specimens) of Cretaceous to Eocene fossil mollusks from Seymour Island, Antarctica, and its vicinity, and is widely recognized as among the largest and finest in the world from this region. Seymour Island is one of the world’s most important localities for studying the period of Earth history between the Cretaceous and Late Eocene (80-35 million years ago). The abundant, diverse, and well-preserved fossils have been studied for more than a century, and especially intensively since the early 1970s. Significant results of this research include important insights into paleobiogeographic patterns, changes at the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction and in the Paleocene recovery from it, climate change during the Eocene, which included the beginning of glaciation on Antarctica and the initiation of the current “Ice House World” climate regime, and the discoveries of many previously unknown and unique fossil taxa. Thus the Zinsmeister Collection is an immense scientific treasure and important resource for Antarctic research.
Until its arrival at PRI, the collection had not previously been easily available to researchers outside of Purdue University. To remedy this situation, in 2010 PRI began a two-year project funded by the National Science Foundation to make information about the collection more widely and readily available to researchers, and to stimulate and assist future research. During the project, the collection was upgraded to the highest curatorial standards, and the research community was made aware of this uniquely important collection in the form of an online, publicly available object record and image database. The easy availability of specimen data and images for the Zinsmeister Collection on the PRI collections online database (http://www.pricollectionsdatabase.org) will promote future Antarctic research. Through outreach activities that ranged from mounting of the most spectacular specimen in the collection in PRI’s Museum of the Earth to a web-based exhibition, the project also has helped educators raise awareness of climate change, extinction, and evolution as part of their teaching programs.
Last Modified: 01/02/2014
Modified by: Gregory P Dietl
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