The Menat Formation is a
geologic formation
A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exp ...
in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
. It preserves
fossils
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
dating back to the
Paleocene
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pal ...
. It is a
maar deposit located on top of an ancient volcano, the extent is very localised with the outcropping area being around 600 by 1000 metres. Numerous species of fossil insects, plants and fish are known, as well as some isolated mammals, including the primate ''
Plesiadapis insignis'', the
choristodere reptile ''
Lazarussuchus'', and birds, including members of
Halcyornithidae and
Messelasturidae and relatives of
Songziidae
''Songzia'' is an extinct genus of gruiform bird related to rails. It lived in the Eocene epoch. Though many families traditionally assigned to the Gruiformes do not seem to actually belong there, this is apparently not the case with this an ...
.
See also
*
References
*
Paleogene France
{{Paleogene-stub