At the 3rd International Congress of Stratigraphy held in Milan, Italy, Shen Shuzhong, professor of Nanjing University and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, won the highest international gold medal (ics medal) in stratigraphy. Established by the International Stratigraphic Commission in 2004, the prize is awarded every four years, with only one person at a time. There were only four scientists in the world who had received this award before, and Shen Shuzhong was the fifth and the first Asian scientist to receive this award.
To receive this honor, you have to develop new analytical methods, either to provide new data or to explain the geological history of a particular region or time interval. In short, it is necessary to make pioneering achievements in stratigraphic research.
Let us also congratulate Professor Shen Shuzhong on winning such a high honor, China in the field of science in recent years, it can be said that there are many talents, it can also be seen that in the case of continuous economic development and continuous improvement of education level, more and more talents in China have begun to emerge.
Today we will talk about Professor Shen Shuzhong, whose life can be described as very legendary.
Shen Shuzhong was born in 1961 in a small rural area in Huzhou, Zhejiang, his parents are farmers and have no culture, the big characters do not know one, we all know that in the countryside, parents generally do not pay much attention to children's education, especially in that era, most of them think that farming can also have bowls of rice to eat, reading also costs money, so children generally grow up in the fields. However, Shen Shuzhong's parents attach great importance to their children's education and hope that their children can study and become talents, so they sent Shen Shuzhong to school at the age of 7.
In 1975, Huzhou Middle School to recruit two rural classes, excellent performance of Shen Shuzhong was recommended by the village, came to Huzhou Middle School to study, the reading environment at that time can be said to be very difficult, students often have to learn engineering, agriculture, military, Shen Shuzhong often have to work, but he studied very hard. At that time, Tang Chengbin, a Chinese teacher in Huzhong, and Yang Jun, an English teacher, gathered students in a simple dormitory to tutor in their spare time or at night. At that time, it was relatively rare to teach English in middle schools, and such enlightenment teaching had a great impact on Shen Shuzhong's life.
In 1977, the college entrance examination resumed, Shen Shuzhong participated in the college entrance examination, but unfortunately because of its own foundation is very poor, even if the usual hard work is still useless, chemistry test 5 points, physics 0 points, the final name fell Sun Shan, the next year, after careful consideration of Shen Shuzhong chose to apply for secondary school, because secondary school does not need to take chemistry and physics, so he has an advantage, and finally he was finally admitted to the "geology major" of Zhejiang Coal Industry School (one of the predecessors of Zhejiang Gongshang University).
After graduating from secondary school, Shen Shuzhong was assigned to the coal mine as a geological technician, and the harsh environment of the coal mine, especially at that time, the coal mine often had traffic accidents, so Shen Shuzhong, who was very afraid, wanted to get rid of such a life.
"When going down the well, I was always worried, and sometimes the gas alarm sounded and I had to escape from the bottom of the well below 400 meters in 10 minutes. Even in the usual safe period of going down the well, the miner's lamp worn at that time would often be extinguished, and sometimes it could only rely on the feeling of the wind to grope eight or nine kilometers in the dark to get out. ”
Later, by chance, Shen Shuzhong saw a 200-word news in the newspaper, saying that Zhang Zewei, a secondary school student, was admitted to the graduate school of hao Yichun, a famous academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which pointed out the direction of his life and made him germinate the idea of taking the graduate school entrance examination. Shen Shuzhong can be said to have spent a lot of effort to prepare for the examination, he even ran to Hangzhou to buy teaching materials, tomorrow with a dictionary to memorize English words, no one knows, Shen Shuzhong at that time how much effort and determination, not only to engage in coal mine work, but also to prepare for graduate school.
In 1983 and 1983, Shen Shuzhong, who had been a geological technician for 2 years, went to take the postgraduate examination for the first time, and the result was admitted to the overseas students in Australia, of which the English test scored 81, ranking second among the 82 graduate students in the entire coal system at that time.
So guys, don't complain about your environment, as long as you are willing to pay your hard work, the cold door can also be out of the noble son, now is the Internet age, the channels for obtaining information and knowledge are very diverse and more convenient, not like before, no money books can not afford to buy, the news is also very closed, there is no way to obtain knowledge, as long as you really want to progress, willing to work hard, in this era, there will be gains, that Zhang Zewei is also, from secondary school students to now is already a business owner.
However, after being admitted to graduate school to attend training in Beijing, Shen Shuzhong found that he must have a bachelor's degree to study abroad, which became his big problem. Later, he was trained in China by his supervisor He Xilin, where he was guided by Professor He until his doctorate and stayed at his alma mater, China University of Mining and Technology.
So guys, don't complain about your environment, as long as you are willing to pay your hard work, the cold door can also be out of the noble son, although your environmental origin may not be good, the starting point is lower than others, but now is the Internet era, the channels for obtaining information and knowledge are very diverse and more convenient, not like before, no money books can not afford to buy, the news is also very closed, there is no way to obtain knowledge, as long as you really want to progress, willing to work hard, in this era, there will be gains, that Zhang Zewei is also, Secondary school students are now business owners.
In 1995, Shen Shuzhong went abroad for the first time and was sent to the Russian Institute of Paleontology to study. In 1996, Shen Shuzhong was selected by the Ministry of Education to go to Japan as a postdoctoral fellow, and met a very rigorous and pedantic gentleman, which made him study more attentively. It was also during his studies in Japan that two Australian professors learned that he had collected a large number of fossil specimens in Tibet and invited him to Australia to participate in the "China's Gondwana" project. 260 million years ago, land and sea were not like we are now, when Australia was close to Tibet, but now it is 18,000 miles apart, and the Gondwana project is to study the relationship between the two.
Gondwana Mainland
After his return, he wrote a series of papers in the field of heavyweight paleontology, published in famous magazines in the United States, Britain, France, the Netherlands and other countries, and also published a special book in Germany, which caused strong repercussions in the international paleontology community.
Shen Shuzhong, who has been engaged in research in Australia, in 2000, suddenly received a heartfelt invitation from jin Yujie, an academician who visited Australia on behalf of the country. Hoping that he could return to China for development, Shen Shuzhong immediately agreed, Shen Shuzhong said: "In foreign countries, no matter how good a job is, he is also a 'migrant worker', only when he returns to the motherland, can he be the master of scientific research." ”
Jin Yujie
In 2000, Shen Shuzhong gave up the superior conditions and comfortable living environment abroad. As the "Overseas Outstanding Talents (Hundred Talents Program)" of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shen Shuzhong was introduced back to China, and in the past 20 years, Shen Shuzhong can be said to have made great contributions to China's geological research, Shen Shuzhong is mainly engaged in the research of Permian brachiopod fossil system taxonomy, biological mass extinction and subsequent recovery, quantitative biopleogeography, biodiversity and paleoenvironment.
His research is difficult and complex, so I will talk to you about two of his most well-known research results.
One is that two gold nails were contributed to China, and the qualitative "golden nails" are actually the common name of the global chronological stratigraphic unit boundary stratographic profile and point (gssp). The golden nail is a typical or standard for the boundaries of the age stratigraphic units specified by the International Stratigraphic Commission and the Geological Science Union in the form of official publication. It is a globally unique standard or template for defining and distinguishing strata formed by different ages (eras) around the world, and is marked in a specific site and a specific sequence of rock formations as the only symbol for determining and identifying the boundary between the two epoch strata in the world.
The "golden nail" can be said to be recognized by scientists around the world as a standard for the division and comparison of a specific geological era on a global scale, so its successful acquisition often marks that a country's geological research achievements in this field have reached the world's leading level, and its significance is no less than that of the Olympic gold medal. The Global Sillus/Devonian Boundary Stratified Profile and Point (gssp), established in the Czech Republic in 1977, is the world's first gold nail. According to experts, there are about 110 "golden nails" in the global stratigraphic chronology, and as of April 2013, 65 have been officially established. A total of 11 pieces have been found in China, for example, the Changxing limestone gold nail is the dividing line between the Permian and Triassic systems, and it is also a symbol of the demarcation line between the Paleozoic and Mesozoic boundaries. Academician Yin Hongfu used the tooth-shaped stone fossil as a standardized stone dividing the Paleozoic and Mesozoic, and has since replaced the status of the ammonite! The number of golden nails found in China can be said to be the first among many countries, which fully shows that our country is at a leading level in geological research.
Professor Shen Shuzhong was the main contributor to the two golden nails of the Permian.
The other is to solve the mystery of the biological mass extinction disaster 250 million years ago, here and everyone to popularize the science, the earth is divided into four stages: the Pluto, the Archaic, the Proterozoic, and the Ephemeral.
This period of the Underworld began with the capture of high-temperature molten materials and small amounts of plastic substances, solid substances, gases and liquids by the core of the Earth, and the geological time from the time when the molten material on the surface solidified to form the most primitive shell of the earth.
The Ancient Universe imagined a restoration map
This period of the Archean Period is a geological period from the solidification of molten material on the surface to the formation of the earth's most primitive shell to the formation of sedimentary rocks. The crust is not the same as the crust formed by the solidification of the earth's molten material. The Earth's crust is the Earth's crust composed of volcanic rocks, sedimentary rocks, metamorphic rocks and meteorites, which are formed after the long evolution of the Earth.
The beginning of the prosperity of algae and bacteria during the Proterozoic Period was an important stage in the evolution from prokaryotes to eukaryotes, from single-celled protozoa to multicellular protozoa.
The Eminentinocene refers to the "age of visible creatures." It is the stage since the beginning of the emergence of a large number of higher animals, including the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic. From about 540 million years ago to the present, the Paleozoic is the first epoch of the Ezoic, the previous generation is the Neoproterozoic of the Proterozoic, and the next is the Mesozoic. The Paleozoic includes cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian.
The Permian is the last epoch of the Paleozoic And is also an important coal-forming period. The Permian period began about 299 million years ago and extended to 250 million years, a total of 45 million years. The plant kingdom of the Early Permian is similar to that of the Late Permian, and is still dominated by knotweed, stone pine, true fern, and seed fern. Gymnosperms such as ginkgo biloba, cycad, bennei cycad, and conifer appeared in the Late Permian, and began to take on the appearance of the mesozoic belt. In the Permian period, there were new developments in cartilaginous fish and teleost fish, and many new types of cartilaginous fish appeared, and cartilaginous hard scales developed rapidly. Amphibians further flourished. There were new developments in the cuposaurs of reptiles in the Permian; the Middle Dragons swam in rivers or lakes, represented by the Middle Dragons of Brazil and South Africa; the Panlongs were found in the Late Carboniferous and Early Permians; and the Theropods were mammalian reptiles of the Middle, Late, and Triassic Periods, which were found all over the world.
The worst mass extinction event ever occurred at the end of the Permian, with an estimated 96% extinction of species on Earth, of which 95% of marine life and 75% of terrestrial vertebrates went extinct. Trilobites, sea scorpions, and important coral taxa all disappeared. Terrestrial monobow taxa and many reptile groups also went extinct. The mass extinction caused the major creatures that occupied the ocean for nearly 300 million years to decay and disappear, giving way to new species, and the ecosystem received a most thorough update, paving the way for the evolution of reptiles such as dinosaurs. The scientific community generally agrees that this mass extinction was a milestone in the transition of Earth's history from the Paleozoic to the Mesozoic.
Although not as famous as the Cretaceous dinosaur mass extinction, the Permian mass extinction was even more tragic, and almost all species went extinct, so scientists have always wanted to solve this problem.
Some scientists believe that climate change is the main cause of this catastrophe. Because rocks formed at the end of the Permian period show that the climate in some areas at that time became colder, forming ice sheets at the poles of the Earth. These massive white ice caps, which emit sunlight back into space, can further lower global temperatures and make it difficult for creatures on land and at sea to adapt. If this is added to this the decline in sea level and volcanic eruptions, this is a catastrophe.
Some scientists believe that the Permian land masses collided and formed the huge Pangea continent. Rain and mist from the sea can no longer penetrate inland. As a result, some areas of the Permian became more and more dry and hot, resulting in the wider and wider desert area, and the animals that could not adapt to the arid environment became extinct.
Shen Shuzhong has studied the Permian period for many years, and he has begun to study the Permian strata many years ago, and has made a lot of progress in Zhejiang Coal Mountain, Sichuan Shangsi and other strata. Later, the international team led by him conducted systematic research on the Permian strata in Guangxi, and jointly carried out quantitative analysis of high-precision comprehensive chronopatric framework, biodiversity and a variety of geochemical indicators with international counterparts, demonstrated the simultaneity and transientness of the mass extinction of marine and terrestrial organisms at the end of the Permian, and the fine study of the isotopes and fossils of uranium-lead elements in volcanic rocks, calculated the sedimentation rate of some volcanic debris, analyzed the change trend of carbon isotopes, compared with the change amplitude of paleostea at that time, and Zhejiang, The comparison of Iranian and other cross-sectional studies reveals the "culprit" of the catastrophe 250 million years ago - volcanic eruptions, of which the scale of multiple eruptions of Siberian volcanoes is the largest, and the magmatic activity in many places has caused rapid changes in SST and the entire environment.
In the Permian mass extinction study, Shen Shuzhong found that at the beginning of the mass extinction, the temperature of the earth was 25 ° C, and the end of the mass extinction, the temperature was 33 ° C, when the large-scale volcanic activity caused the earth to experience a state of "sudden rise". This has led to the frequent occurrence of large-scale forest wildfires around the world, resulting in the rapid demise of forests. The destruction of forests has led to increased surface weathering and rapid collapse of surface soil systems.
The negative drift of carbon isotopes in the formation records also indicates that the concentration of carbon dioxide also increased sharply at that time, and the seawater was hypoxic and acidified, making it impossible for organisms to breathe. At the same time that terrestrial life was "wiped out", marine life also suffered. Large-scale volcanic eruptions lead to massive greenhouse gas releases on the surface and rapid greenhouse effects.
How much time did it take to destroy such a terrible massacre? For a long time, paleontologists, like "Sherlock Holmes", have slowly cleared the fog through the study of strata and fossils. "In the past, some scientists believed that such a mass extinction would take at least millions of years. As research progresses, time continues to shorten. 1 million years, 500,000 years, 200,000 years..." Shen Shuzhong said that through high-precision comprehensive chronopatric frameworks, quantitative analysis of biodiversity and a variety of localization indicators, Shen Shuzhong came up with the latest figures: the mass extinction was accurately stuck at about 60,000 years. 60,000 years, for a multi-billion-year-old earth, is the blink of an eye.
After the mass extinction at the end of the Permian, it took the Earth nearly 5 million years to return to its pre-extinction ecological level. This mass extinction has left many creatures extinct ever since. Only the remaining fossil specimens prove that they once came into this world.
Shen Shuzhong's achievements have attracted great attention from domestic and foreign counterparts after being published in top academic journals such as Science, Bulletin of the American Academy of Sciences, and Earth and Planetary Science Communications (EPSL); the results published in Science were selected into the "2012 Top Ten Advances in Chinese Science", and the relevant content was compiled into the textbooks of universities in the United States and other countries.
The biological mass extinction tragedy 250 million years ago was finally cracked after Professor Shen Shuzhong's recourse.
Professor Shen Shuzhong in order to obtain geological research, it can be said that the footprints have traveled all over most of China, from the Gobi Desert to the mountains and rivers and plains, he has also gone to Tibet many times to conduct field work research, when he arrived in Tibet for the 5th time, it was almost an accident, when his heavy cold encountered the bad weather conditions in Tibet, his body had serious discomfort, and finally he could only rely on a simple oxygen concentrator to help breathe, and drove back to Lhasa for 14 hours under the escort of colleagues to get out of danger.
Shen Shuzhong's collection of rocks
It can be said that Shen Shuzhong's international highest gold medal in stratigraphy this time is a compliment to his many years of research career and outstanding contributions, and also represents the high affirmation of the international stratigraphy community for China's paleontological stratigraphy research. Once again, let us congratulate Professor Shen Shuzhong.