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怀俄明州大角盆地北部的Polecat台地和麦卡洛峰的重要发现对了解北美古新世哺乳动物生物地层以及古新世-始新世极热事件中陆生动物群更替模式和原因具有重要意义。1910年,普林斯顿大学和美国自然历史博物馆的古生物学者指出,古新世的哺乳动物与始新世的明显不同,这使得古新世是一个不同于始新世的时期的观点很快被接受。80年之后,密歇根大学和卡耐基研究院的古生物学者指出,陆相古新统-始新统界线可以用动物群的快速更替和小型化作为标志,并伴随着一次重要的碳同位素漂移,这使得古新世-始新世极热事件(PETM)作为真正的全球性温室升温事件得到了公认。1950年,投身古生物事业的年轻学者周明镇被介绍到怀俄明参加古新世哺乳动物野外工作。在那里,他积累了专业知识和经验,并促成了对中国古新统进行的类似考察。现在的挑战是如何将北美和亚洲大陆相似的古新世历史拼合在一起。
The discovery of the Polecat platform and McCullough peak in the northern part of Wyoming’s Bighorn Basin is of great importance in understanding the North American Miocene mammalian biostratigraphy and the patterns and causes of terrestrial fauna alterations during the Pliocene-Eocene extreme events. In 1910, palaeontologists at Princeton University and the Museum of Natural History pointed out that the Paleocene mammals are significantly different from the Eocene, which makes the view of the Paleocene being a period different from the Eocene very quickly accepted. Eighty-80 years later, palaeontologists at the University of Michigan and Carnegie Institutions pointed out that the Paleocene-Paleocene boundary could be marked by the rapid turnover and miniaturization of fauna and accompanied by an important carbon isotope shift that allowed The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Event (PETM) was recognized as a real global warming event. In 1950, Zhou Mingzhen, a young scholar involved in paleontology, was introduced to Wyoming to participate in the Paleocene mammalian field work. There, he accumulated expertise and experience and contributed to a similar study of ancient palaces in China. The challenge now is to put together similar palaeoclimate history in North America and Asia.