Paleontologists search for fossils today in very nearly the same ways that our predecessors have since the beginnings of the discipline in the nineteenth century. They study geological and topographic maps in order to locate places where fossils of a certain age may be found, and then they walk long distances with their eyes scouring the ground for hints of eroding fossils. As a result, many important paleontological sites are literally stumbled upon, and chance and luck continue to play a large role in the success or failure of many paleontological expeditions.
This interdisciplinary research utilizes state-of-the-art imaging methods and analytical techniques from remote sensing and the spatial sciences to develop and test new predictive models for determining where paleontologists should concentrate their efforts in the field in order to maximize their effectiveness at finding productive fossil-bearing localities. The investigators will use Landsat imagery as well as high-resolution, commercially available satellite imagery to determine the spectral characteristics of known productive localities in the Eocene deposits of Wyoming's Great Divide Basin. A number of analytical approaches will be tested for their ability to identify the spectral signatures of productive localities, including artificial neural network analysis and geographic object-based image analysis. The research team will spend two summer field seasons searching those areas on the ground that are predicted to have a high potential to be fossil-bearing, in order to statistically evaluate the success of the predictive models.
The international research team includes specialists from vertebrate paleontology, paleoanthropology, geology and geography, and their aim is to stimulate the application of new approaches from the geographic and spatial sciences to the sciences of paleoanthropology and paleontology. Broader impacts include the training of undergraduate and graduate students in this cross-disciplinary approach to field-based anthropological science, and development of web-based tools for education and outreach.
