SGER: Salvage Recovery of an Extraordinary Paleocene Fossil Site in Northern Colombia: the Oldest Known Tropical Rainforest

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The Paleogene is recognized as an important time in floral and vertebrate history when angiosperms overtook gymnosperms in dominance, and mammals radiated and become the dominant terrestrial vertebrates. The fossil record of tropical rainforests, however, is very sparse because dense forest and thick soils cover rock exposures. Two Paleocene sites with well preserved plant megafossils and vertebrates from a tropical area (Tabaco Extendido Pit, and La Puente Pit) in northern Colombia will be flooded within the next one or two years following the normal operation of the Cerrejon mine. This project represents an emergency rescue operation during an intensive, six-month-long expedition to collect as many fossils as possible from these two sites before they are flooded, and the fossils are lost to science.The team from the Smithsonian and University of Florida conducting this expedition has substantial experience in scientific research, organization and education/outreach, which will be used to portray the results from this research to as wide a community as possible, including nongovernmental conservation agencies (e.g. WWF, Fundacion Natura), and museum exhibits. The discovery process of the research project will promote training at the graduate student level.