
NSF Org: |
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences |
Recipient: |
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Initial Amendment Date: | March 10, 2014 |
Latest Amendment Date: | March 8, 2017 |
Award Number: | 1338285 |
Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
Program Manager: |
Dena Smith-Nufio
dmsmith@nsf.gov (703)292-7431 EAR Division Of Earth Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
Start Date: | March 1, 2014 |
End Date: | February 28, 2019 (Estimated) |
Total Intended Award Amount: | $280,000.00 |
Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $280,000.00 |
Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2015 = $70,000.00 FY 2016 = $70,000.00 FY 2017 = $70,000.00 |
History of Investigator: |
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Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1523 UNION RD RM 207 GAINESVILLE FL US 32611-1941 (352)392-3516 |
Sponsor Congressional District: |
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Primary Place of Performance: |
FL US 32611-2002 |
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): | Sedimentary Geo & Paleobiology |
Primary Program Source: |
01001516DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001617DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001718DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
Program Reference Code(s): | |
Program Element Code(s): |
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Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
This is a project to conduct detailed studies of anatomically preserved fossil plants from deposits in India that were growing at a time when the Indian subcontinent was about to collide with southern Asia. The focus of the research is on the floristic changes that occurred as a result of that continental collision, and the global biological catastrophe that it is hypothesized to have caused. The Intertrappean beds developed during intervals between major plateau basalt eruptions of the late Cretaceous-early Paleocene are famous for their fossil content, including remains of terrestrial mammals, dinosaurs, mammals, molluscs and abundant fossil plants. Fossils that are the focus of this study are among the most extensive and well preserved in the paleontological record. Detailed knowledge of the fossil plants preserved in those beds, and the floristic turnover from the Late Cretaceous through the basal Paleogene will provide a benchmark for understanding the relationship between climatic and floristic change.
Because this study will focus on climate-change driven changes in regional and global floristics, it has great potential to provide insights about vegetational changes that are likely to result from the global climate change that is beginning at this time. Obviously, these insights will help predict the types of global vegetational changes that we may expect to see in the near future, and help inform decisions about how to manage such changes through the selective allocation of resources. The disciplines that
are represented by the PI team, and the approach that has been proposed is comprehensive and potentially transformative with respect to the vital insights that will result from characterization of floristic changes through this crucial period in the history of the earth. The combined use of broad-based plant systematics, coupled with detailed studies of flowers, fruits, and wood to address these important
questions is a most ambitions and creative approach that has not previously been attempted.
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.
We examined the latest Cretaceous to early Cenozoic vegetation of central India based on well-preserved woods, fruits, seeds, and flowers preserved in cherts, with an interest in the relationships of these plant to modern-day plants and to fossil plants of similar age from other continents. Because India was isolated from other large land masses, as an equatorial island at that time, we were interested in the biogeographic affinities of India's insular flora. Collaboratively with Elisabeth Wheeler, Pieter Baas, and Rashmi Srivastava, we re-analyzed previously published woods from the flora and based on comprehensive comparisons with extant woods, were able to distinguish about 50 taxa, and provided updated identifications. Collectively, the anatomical makeup of these woods was interesting because they indicate different environmental conditions than other late Cretaceous and early Cenozoic woods known from other places in the world. With the exception of fossil palm stems which commonly reach 30 cm in diameter, most of the tree trunks were small, less than 10 cm, suggesting suboptimal growing conditions associated with effects of widespread volcanism.
We made a comprehensive investigation of fossil fruits and flowers from the Deccan intertrappean cherts based on specimens available from the Birbal Sahni Institute in Lucknow, India and the Shya Chitaley collection at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in Ohio. We revisited most of the classic field sites, to collect more specimens and verify coordinates and geologic position, and we collected from new sites discovered by our Indian Collaborator, Dashrath Kapgate. Dr. Kapgate donated a major collection of of significant specimens now cataloged in the paleobotanical collection of the Florida Museum of Natural History, that were fundamental for this investigation and for future continuing investigations. We also collaborated with Bandana Samant in the investigation of fossil pollen and spores from the same sites, documented by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.
For investigating fossil fruits, seeds and flowers permineralized within chert, we augmented traditional methods (reflected light analyses of broken surfaces and transmitted light microscopy of physical thin sections and peels) with x-ray tomography, utilizing resources at the Advance Photon Source synchrotron at Argonne labs, Ilinois, and with the installation of new microCT scanning equipment both at University of Michigan and University of Florida. We found that many of the fossil seed and flowers could be documented in excellent morphological detail using X-ray tomography, despite being hidden from optical viewing within the chert samples.
The plants identified were found to vary in their biogeographic connections. Two of the identified Palm genera have affinities to the Coccoid subfamily with most closely related taxa living today in South America. An extinct monocot genus, Viracarpon, known in much greater detail now due to CT scanning, was found to be present in Cretaceous sediments in Mexico as well as in India indicating an unusual long distance dispersal pattern. In addition to the scientific benefits, we initiated collaborations between US and Indian Scientists and students that will continue past the tenure of this grant.
Last Modified: 05/01/2019
Modified by: Steven R Manchester
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