Bosques Petrificados de Jaramillo National Park, Deseado Department, Santa Cruz Province, Argentinai

Regional Level Types
Bosques Petrificados de Jaramillo National Park	National Park
Deseado Department	Department
Santa Cruz Province	Province
Argentina	Country

Petrified Forest Natural Monument/Park.

History:
Almost in the geographical centre of the desert steppe of the Santa Cruz province, 150 km Puerto Deseado and 60 of the national route Nº 3, lies the petrified forest.

"Madre e Hija" (405 metres above sea level), with its two characteristic peaks, is the dominant elevation over the Valley of "Laguna Grande". There is the Petrified Forest national monument with its fossil Araucarias. This peak is a volcano and is responsible for the geological zone configuration and stands just 200 metres above the surface of the Valley, although it is not responsible for the cataclysm that resulted in the petrified araucarias, that happened several million years before the birth of this volcano.

During the Jurassic of the Mesozoic era, 150 million years ago, this desert was a forest, and the immense Araucaria Mirabilis and Para-Araucarias of more than 160 metres high and with some specimens that lived more than 1,000 years, gave shade and food to the dinosaurs of the region. Then, at the end of the Middle Jurassic, forests of Araucarias fell by terrible winds and were covered by the ashes of intense volcanic activity. Later, rainwater charged with silicon traversed that ash. This Silicon intruded the plant tissue of the Araucarias, eventually replacing it. The process by which the oxide of Silicon replaced plant cells of these trees, literally turning them into stone, was so gradual and complete that nothing was lost from the original structure of plant cells that, even today, can be easily identified in the laboratory. Perhaps the only thing that altered was its original colour: reddish today by the presence of iron oxide. Most of the logs of the forest are found with the tops to the East and the roots to the West. Almost all are cut into slices or segments. The reason for the segmentation is not entirely clear. It may have been from the weight from the ashes, or the different geological movements. The truth is that all cracks correspond to the original structure of the trunks, i.e. they failed in the weaker places. Some of the fossils measured 35 meters long and 3 meters in diameter.

Currently, it is prohibited to remove material from the Park to ensure their conservation.

The floor is a thick cushion of petrified Araucaria splinters and cones of Araucaria and fossilized Ammonites.

Main mineralization: Wood Opal, Opal, Chalcedony, Jasper, Quartz, Agate, Manganese oxides, Iron oxides.

Fossils

This region is too big or complex to display the fossil list, try looking at smaller subregions.

Other Databases

Wikipedia:	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosques_Petrificados_de_Jaramillo_National_Park
Wikidata ID:	Q830083

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References