EAGER Proposal - Exploratory Fieldwork in the Late Devonian of western Mongolia in the Summer of 2012

Appalachian State University, Boone NC

Investigators

Abstract

This is an EAGER project to support fieldwork targeting 360 million year old rocks in western Mongolia. The field trip will be led by Dr. Yarinpil Ariunchimeg, who is a senior scientist at the Mongolia Academy of Sciences in Ulaanbaatar. The goal of the fieldwork is to examine these ancient outcrops to locate rocks that are full of fossils that expose a boundary in time called the Frasnian/Famennian boundary as well as other key intervals that show important evolution and extinction events. The investigators hope to expand their knowledge of the key biotic and geochemical events during this time interval including the Kellwasser and Hangenberg oceanographic events, that reflect the possible depletion of oxygen in the oceans.