Mendoza

“HUELLAS DE DINOSAURIOS” MUNICIPAL PALENTEOLOGICAL PARK, IN MALARGÜE, MENDOZA

In the year 2006 a group of researchers from CRYCIT-CONICET-MZA (an investigation centre) discovered west of the department of Malargüe a group of 70 dinosaurs footprints.

From that moment on researchers started studying them to determine which species of dinosaurs they belonged to, and which were the paleoenvironmental conditions that predominated when these giants walked these latitudes.

Through these studies, paleontologists determined that a group of sauropods (part of the titanosaurus family) headed south between Malargüe and Las Leñas valley during the late cretaceous period. Sauropods were herbivores, with a long neck and tail. Footprints mark the journey of the animals which walked lands very different to present-day soil, which left trails of 30cm of depth and of 65 cm of diameter in “Huellas de Dinosaurios.” This year, Malargüe Municipality promoted the creation of the museum “Museo Municipal de Ciencias Naturales” (Museum of Natural Sciences) and the creation of “Parque Palenteológico Municipal – Huellas de Dinosaurios.” (Municipal Palenteological Park – Huellas de Dinosaurios)