Curator

Vertebrate Paleontology

Since 1995, I participated in or led various paleontologic expeditions by teams of American and Chinese paleontologists in and around the Tibetan Plateau.  In particular, the Qaidam (Tsaidam) Basin in northern Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, China, is one of few places on the plateau where fossil mammals were found that bear on the question of timing and magnitude of the rising of Tibetan Plateau. We focused our attention on the richly fossiliferous but hitherto little explored areas around the Tuosu Lake (Tossun Nor) to better understand the nature of this unique mammalian assemblage. Fossil mammals, fishes, and plants collected during the past years help in our understanding of the evolution and zoogeographic distribution of East Asian mammals and the environments they lived in, and in their implication of global climatic changes.

See our blog about our Tibetan Plateau expedition in August 26 - late September, 2008.

Acknowledgments: Our fieldwork are funded by the National Science Foundation (EAR-0446699), the Committee for Research and Exlploration of the National Geographic Society (Nos. 6004-97 and 6771-00), Chinese Academy of Science Outstanding Overseas Scholar Fund (KL205208), and the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (Nos. 49872011 and 40128004).

	In the last several years, I have worked in several large terrestrial basins in and around the Tibetan Plateau: Lanzhou Basin, Linxia (Longzhong) Basin, and Danghe (Tabenbuluk) Basin in Gansu Province; Qaidam (Tsaidam) and Kunlun Mountain Pass Basin in Qinghai Province, and Zhada Basin in southwestern Tibet Autonomous Region. Works in these basins allow us a sense of vertebrate evolution in various parts of the Plateau during different time.
	The Qaidam Basin is the largest terrestrial basin on the Tibetan Plateau, and is also richest in vertebrate fossils. This exposure at the "Ghost Town" in central Qaidam Basin is typical of wind erosions on formerly extremely saline deposits.
	This upper right first through third molars of a Hispanotherium rhino is among mammals in the middle Miocene part of the eastern Qaidam Basin. This rhino is also found in the middle Miocene of Europe (see Deng and Wang, 2004).
	This nearly complete antler of Stephanocemas, an extinct primitive deer, was discovered and collected by Gary Takeuchi in 2006. Deer antlers are particularly abundant in the Qaidam Basin. Modern deers often prefer wooded environments.  Presence of the deers in the middle and late Miocene of Qaidam permits us to learn something about the paleoenvironments of the basin. Stephanocemas is commonly found in the early to middle Miocene of Eurasia.
	Fishes are particularly abundant in eastern Qaidam Basin during the late Miocene. This articulated tail of a cyprinid fish (carp family) is an example of what can be found in some localities. Some fish reaches to rather large sizes, possibly 100 pounds or more. Such a large fish suggests the presence of large bodies of fresh water during the Miocene. This is in sharp contrast to an extremely dry environment in much of the modern Tibetan Plateau, especially in the present Qaidam Basin.

Collaborating institutions:

- Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (Beijing), Chinese Academy of Sciences.

- Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (Beijing), Chinese Academy of Sciences

- Stable Isotope Laboratory, Florida State University (Tallahassee).

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (No. EAR-0446699). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.