2023-2024 Faculty Research Grant

H. Thomas Goodwin (Biology).

Tooth corrosion and taphonomic interpretation of fossil and modern teeth of ground squirrels.

Teeth are highly mineralized structures that resist degradation and thus are common as fossils. Although teeth resist degradation, they are sensitive to corrosion by acidic solutions such as found in the stomach of a predator or, in some cases, acidic soils.  Thus, corrosion on the surfaces of fossil teeth may yield insight into processes that occur during their preservation as fossils (a study of taphonomy).  Similarly, studies of acid corrosion on modern teeth sheds light on these processes. Recently, students in my lab have investigated tooth corrosion in fossil and modern ground squirrels. One student documented patterns of corrosion on teeth from two species of fossil ground squirrels from a location in SW Kansas; another is completing an experimental study of tooth corrosion on modern teeth; and a third has just begun analysis of fossils from a second, fossil-rich locality buried in sediments derived from a volcanic ash. Preliminary findings suggest that patterns of corrosion on the fossil teeth differ from patterns generated in an experiment that sought to mimic acidity of the stomach of predators.  Our goal will be to describe patterns of corrosion more comprehensively on the fossil teeth and to further probe hypotheses of causation.