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

古近纪被认为是植物和脊椎动物历史上被子植物取代裸子植物的重要时期，哺乳动物辐射并成为陆生脊椎动物的优势。然而，热带雨林的化石记录非常稀少，因为茂密的森林和厚厚的土壤覆盖了岩石。哥伦比亚北部的两个古新世遗址，保存完好的巨型植物化石和热带地区的脊椎动物（Tabaco Extendido坑和La Puente坑），在Cerrejon矿井正常运作后，将在未来一到两年内被淹没。这个项目代表了一项紧急救援行动，在为期六个月的密集探险中，在这两个地点被洪水淹没之前，尽可能多地收集化石，以免化石被科学遗忘。进行这次探险的史密森学会和佛罗里达大学的团队在科学研究、组织和教育/推广方面拥有丰富的经验，这些经验将被用来向尽可能广泛的社区宣传这项研究的结果，包括非政府保护机构（如世界自然基金会、自然基金会）和博物馆展览。研究项目的发现过程将促进研究生水平的培养。

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.