Pilot excavation for exploring new sites of the Paleocene Fossillagerstätte Menat (Auvergne, France) for a planned large paleontological excavation and research program

北美陆地生态系统的早期新生代演化，在古近纪-古近纪界线被破坏之后，其特点是不同生物群体的多样性迅速增加。然而，从更广泛的角度来看，关于大多数地理区域的知识是稀缺的。在北美之后，西欧和中欧可能是这一时期第二好的研究地区，这里对新生代早期植被和昆虫的进化知之甚少。主要原因是古新世化石遗址的稀缺。Menat是位于法国的古新世化石库，可能为这一时期的植被、昆虫甚至脊椎动物提供重要的新数据。Menat古新世的地层学高分辨率数据将使古新世的植物群和动物群与始新世和渐新世的生物群（特别是Messel和Engles）进行详细的比较。后者是前玛珥湖沉积就像梅纳特，和梅纳特一起，他们提供了一个时间序列的比较研究大致等声条件下。与其他前玛珥湖一样，梅纳特最常见的大型化石是植物和昆虫。在植物组合方面，梅纳特是欧洲古新世的三个关键地点之一;但植物特征所依据的数据已经过时，迫切需要修订。对于许多这些研究，需要新鲜收集的植物材料。就昆虫而言，比较梅纳特岛内不同地层的区系组成将是有趣的，但根据现有材料，没有记录到此类数据。此外，挖掘可能会发现新的非鱼类脊椎动物化石。2012年6月，森肯贝格的一个科学家团队前往梅纳特，评估新挖掘的潜力，并与梅纳特市政府和不同的当地组织建立合作关系。目前，在梅纳特没有进行任何科学挖掘，我们的倡议受到欢迎，并得到当地的支持。双方同意，在挖掘工作进行时，大多数发现的化石将由梅纳特博物馆或古生物学协会ELDONIA保管，但可以带到德国进行准备和研究。在我们的勘察之旅取得成功之后，我们建议进行密集的试点挖掘，以探索Menat的进一步工作。我们计划在未来两年的两次挖掘活动中，在Menat盆地探索新的富有成效的挖掘地点。经验丰富的科学家将与学生一起工作。每项运动计划持续三周。在第一周，将对两个新的挖掘地点进行地质调查，然后由一个较大的小组在每个地点进行为期一周的挖掘。这一行动方针将使我们能够以最大的资源效率测试不同地点在化石保存质量和丰富程度方面的潜力。

The early Cenozoic evolution of terrestrial ecosystems in North America, after the devastation of the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, is marked by a rapid increase in diversity in different groups of organisms. Considered more broadly, however, knowledge concerning most geographic regions is scarce. After North America, western and central Europe is perhaps the second-best researched area for this time period, and here there is little understanding of the early Cenozoic evolution of vegetation and insects. The main reason for this is the scarcity of Paleocene fossil sites. Menat is a Paleocene Fossil-Lagerstätte in France that may provide critical new data on vegetation, insects and even vertebrates of this period.Stratigraphically highly resolved data from the Paleocene of Menat would enable detailed comparisons of Paleocene floras and faunas with the better investigated biotas of Eocene and Oligocene, particularly Messel and Enspel. The latter are former maar lake deposits just like Menat, and together with Menat they offer a temporal sequence for comparative study under roughly isotaphonomic conditions. Like in other former maar lakes, the most common macrofossils in Menat are plants and insects. In regard to its floral assemblage, Menat is one of three key sites for the Paleocene of Europe; but the data upon which the floral characterization is based upon are outdated and in strong need of revision. For many of these studies freshly collected plant material is required. For insects, it would be interesting to compare the faunal composition of different layers within Menat, but with the available material no such data were recorded. Additionally, excavations could turn up new non-fish vertebrate fossils. In June 2012, a team of Senckenberg scientists went to Menat to assess the potential for new excavations and to set up collaborations with the municipality of Menat and different local organisations. Currently, no scientific excavations are being conducted in Menat, and our initiative was well received and has local support. It was agreed that when excavations take place, most recovered fossils would enter the custody of the Museum of Menat or of the paleontological association ELDONIA, but can be taken to Germany for preparation and research. Following the success of our reconnaissance trip, we propose intensive pilot excavations for exploring further work in Menat. We plan to explore new fruitful digging sites in the Menat basin in the course of two excavation campaigns in the next two years. Experienced scientists will work together with students. Each campaign is planned to last three weeks. In the first week a geological survey of two new excavation sites will take place, followed by one week of digging at each site by a larger team. This course of action will enable us to test the potential of different sites in regard to the preservation quality of the fossils and their abundance with maximum resource efficiency.