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

古近纪被认为是花卉和脊椎动物历史上的一个重要时期，被子植物超过裸子植物，哺乳动物辐射并成为优势陆生脊椎动物。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外露。在哥伦比亚北部热带地区(Tabaco Extendido Pit和La Puente Pit)，两处古新世保存完好的植物巨型化石和脊椎动物遗址将在Cerrejon矿正常运营后的一到两年内被洪水淹没。这个项目代表了一次为期六个月的密集探险中的紧急救援行动，目的是在这两个地点被洪水淹没之前收集尽可能多的化石，这些化石已经消失在科学研究中。负责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/外展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展示这项研究的结果，包括非政府保护机构(例如WWF，Fundacion Natura)和博物馆展品。研究项目的发现过程将促进研究生层面的培训。

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.