Using the past to inform our future

The Uinta Basin

Physical map of Utah showing the Uinta Basin situated between the Uinta Mountains to the north and the Book Cliffs of the Colorado Plateau to the south. The Green River courses through the Uinta Basin on its way to meet the Colorado River in southern Utah. Our study area is south of Dinosaur National Monument in the area between where the White River joins the Green River.

The Uinta Basin of northeastern Utah has the most complete interval of the middle Eocene exposed and, in contrast to what we know about the early and late Eocene, also has the least amount of information regarding fossil vertebrates, paleobotany, and paleoclimate. There has always been a gap in our knowledge about vertebrate evolution during the middle Eocene. The Uinta Basin and the Uinta and Duchesne River Formations, are the key to piecing together the middle Eocene.

The Past: The Eocene Epoch (55-34 million years ago or ‘Ma’) is an excellent laboratory for understanding how global warming has driven extinction and speciation and altered both the abundance and distribution of species. Three hyperthermal events (i.e., global warming) have been shown to have occurred during the already warm Eocene and the first two of these, the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; ca. 56 Ma) and the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO; 51.5-50.9 Ma) have been correlated with changes in biotic interactions, particularly in mammalian species communities. The last hyperthermal, the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO, ~40-39 Ma) was first discovered in the Southern Ocean and then eventually discovered in terrestrial sediments in Italy and recently in Montana. The MECO event increased global sea surface temperatures by 4°C and increased North American continental temperatures by 9°C. The MECO occurred over an approximately 600,000 year period.

Our Future: Global mean surface temperatures could increase by 4°C by 2100 if global greenhouse emissions are not curbed (IPCC estimate) and these estimates change as more research is done on climate forcers and effects of climate on our planet. Our team’s goal is to develop a model showing how vertebrates react to naturally paced hyperthermal event. Our results will then be compared to data on modern vertebrates and their habitats.

The Uinta Basin Project: Starting in 2021, we will begin our comprehensive research project that will integrate paleontology, paleoecology, stratigraphy, geochemistry, and palynology in order to track changes in both vertebrates and environment before, during, and after the MECO event in the Uinta Basin. We have a lot of work to do to make this happen, follow our instagram account and other social media platforms to see what we are up to on a daily basis and check back here for publications, blog entries, and more!