Paleontological, sedimentological and stratigraphic study of the Ediacaran fossils of the Corumbá group

• Grant number: 18/03001-1
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International
• Start date: September 01, 2018
• End date: October 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Geology
• Agreement: Newton Fund, with FAPESP as a partner institution in Brazil
• Principal Investigator: Juliana de Moraes Leme Basso
• Grantee: Juliana de Moraes Leme Basso
• Visiting researcher: Alexander Liu
• Visiting researcher institution: University of Cambridge, England
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências (IGC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 16/06114-6 - The Neoproterozoic Earth System and the rise of biological complexity, AP.TEM

Abstract

The Corumbá (Neoproterozoic) Group fossils are inserted in an evolutionary context of relevance for the understanding of biological and geological events that occurred in the Ediacaran/Cambrian transition. Although some studies on taxonomic composition, paleoecology and taphonomy of microfossils and metazoa already present important results, paleoenvironmental aspects still need to be investigated. These issues are objects of worldwide relevance for the reconstitution of Ediacaran events and contexts that can relate Brazil to other parts of the world, such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Russia. In May 2016, a scientific collaboration was established between researchers from the Institute of Geosciences/USP with Dr. Alexander Liu of the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, UK, an active researcher who has an interest in reconstituting life forms and environments in the Pre-Cambrian. Dr. A. Liu was in São Paulo in 2016 and can participate in fieldwork in the region of Corumbá, MS. As a result of this previous visit, he was inserted as a collaborating researcher in the FAPESP Thematic Project "The Neoproterozoic Earth System and the rise of biological complexity", coordinated by prof. Dr. Ricardo Trindade (IAG/USP). In addition, we worked together in 2016, in which we describe new occurrences of Ediacarian/Cambrian icnofossils in Brazil and present new radiometric dating for these successions. The article was published in Nature Ecology and Evolution in 2017. Dr. A. Liu's visit is scheduled for September 2018, where he will remain for thirty days, collaborating with researchers and undergraduates and graduate students, as well as presenting a lecture at the Institute of Geosciences / USP. Additionally, we will do a fieldwork campaign in the Corumbá Group, Bonito, Bodoquena and Corumbá, MS regions for 2 weeks to study together the geology and paleobiology of the region. The results that will be obtained will contribute to (1) a better understanding of the biota diversity of Brazilian Ediacaran macrofossils, (2) the dissemination of new data about the Precambrian Brazilian metazoan diversity and, more importantly, (3) will enable the contact of GSA-IG / USP graduate students with a high level researcher and international recognition. It is in that context that the present application fits. This scientific collaboration is essential for the most advanced studies on the origin and evolution of life in the Brazilian fossil record and should favor a more detailed understanding of the biological and geological patterns and processes subsequent to Ediacaran. (AU)