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

在白垩纪-古近纪界线遭到破坏后，北美早新生代陆地生态系统的演化以不同生物群的多样性迅速增加为标志。然而，从更广泛的角度来看，关于大多数地理区域的知识稀缺。西欧和中欧可能是这一时期第二好的研究区域，仅次于北美，这里对早新生代植被和昆虫的演化知之甚少。造成这种情况的主要原因是古新世化石遗址的稀缺。梅纳特是法国古新世的拉格斯特特化石，它可能提供有关这一时期植被、昆虫甚至脊椎动物的关键新数据。来自梅纳特古新世的高分辨率地层数据将使古新世植物群和动物群与更好地研究始新世和渐新世的生物群进行详细比较，特别是梅塞尔和恩斯佩尔。后者与梅纳特一样是前马萨尔湖沉积，它们与梅纳特一起提供了一个在大致等位相条件下进行对比研究的时间序列。像其他以前的马阿湖一样，梅纳特最常见的大型化石是植物和昆虫。关于它的植物组合，梅纳特是欧洲古新世的三个关键地点之一，但作为描述植物特征的数据是过时的，迫切需要修订。对于这些研究中的许多，新收集的植物材料是必需的。对于昆虫来说，比较Menat内部不同层的动物群组成是很有趣的，但根据现有的材料，没有记录这样的数据。此外，挖掘可能会发现新的非鱼类脊椎动物化石。2012年6月，森肯伯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，梅纳特没有进行科学发掘，我们的倡议很受欢迎，并得到了当地的支持。双方同意，在进行挖掘时，大多数被发现的化石将进入梅纳特博物馆或埃尔多尼亚古生物协会的保管，但可以被带到德国进行准备和研究。在我们的侦察之旅成功之后，我们建议进行密集的试点挖掘，以探索梅纳特的进一步工作。我们计划在未来两年的两次挖掘活动中，在梅纳特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。每一次活动计划持续三周。在第一周，将对两个新的挖掘地点进行地质调查，随后将由一个更大的团队对每个地点进行一周的挖掘。这一行动将使我们能够测试不同地点在化石保存质量及其丰度方面的潜力，并最大限度地提高资源效率。

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of three key sites for the Paleocene of Europe; but the data upon which the floral characterization is based upon are outdated and in strong need of revision.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.