The Zinsmeister Antarctic Fossil Collection: Enhancing Accessibility to the Research and Educational Communities

Paleontological Research Institute, Ithaca NY

Investigators

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.