Palaeontology

Major Jurassic fossil site found in Argentina

By T.K. Randall
March 1, 2016 ·  6 comments

The fossil-rich site is located in Patagonia. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 Enidan7 Spanning an area of 23,000 square miles in Patagonia, southern Argentina, the site was actually discovered four years ago but had remained under wraps until being brought to light this week.

The region has been praised as a veritable goldmine for fossil hunters due to the high level of preservation and because most of the fossils are located near to the surface."No other place in the world contains the same amount and diversity of Jurassic fossils," said geologist Juan Garcia Massini whose research team has been investigating the site.

"You can see the landscape as it appeared in the Jurassic - how thermal waters, lakes and streams as well as plants and other parts of the ecosystem were distributed."

So far the researchers have managed to unearth a wide range of fossils at the site and it is likely that many more will be found now that the region's significance has been widely publicized.

Source: Phys.org | Comments (6)

Tags: Jurassic, Argentina