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Ischigualasto
 
 
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Ischigualasto is a geological formation and a natural park associated with it in the province
Provinces of Argentina

Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one federal district . The federal district and the provinces have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system....
 of San Juan, north-western Argentina
Argentina

Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is a country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city....
, near the border with Chile
Chile

Chile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow coastal strip wedged between the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean....
. The Ischigualasto Provincial Park is located in the north-east of the province , and its northern border is the Talampaya National Park
Talampaya National Park

Talampaya National Park is a National Parks of Argentina located in the east/centre of La Rioja Province , Argentina. It was designated a provincial reserve in 1975 and in 1997 was declared a national park....
, in La Rioja
La Rioja Province (Argentina)

La Rioja is a one of the provinces of Argentina and is located in the west of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Catamarca Province, C?rdoba Province, Argentina, San Luis Province and San Juan Province, Argentina....
, both of which belong to the same geological formation.

as an area of , most of them within the Valle Fértil Department
Valle Fértil Department

Valle F?rtil is a department located in the province of San Juan Province . Characterized by highly fertile landscapes and placed within its surface Ischigualasto Provincial Park, also known asValley of the Moon, which is heavily visited by tourists from around the world....
, with a minor part in the Jachal Department
Jáchal Department

J?chal is a department of the province of San Juan Province . It is located north of the same by making, characterized by its first level agricultural production, which emphasizes the planting of onion....
 of San Juan, at an altitude
Altitude

Altitude has multiple uses depending on the context in which it is used . As a general definition, altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object....
 of about above mean sea level
Above mean sea level

The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum . AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach....
.






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Ischigualasto is a geological formation and a natural park associated with it in the province
Provinces of Argentina

Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one federal district . The federal district and the provinces have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system....
 of San Juan, north-western Argentina
Argentina

Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is a country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city....
, near the border with Chile
Chile

Chile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow coastal strip wedged between the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean....
. The Ischigualasto Provincial Park is located in the north-east of the province , and its northern border is the Talampaya National Park
Talampaya National Park

Talampaya National Park is a National Parks of Argentina located in the east/centre of La Rioja Province , Argentina. It was designated a provincial reserve in 1975 and in 1997 was declared a national park....
, in La Rioja
La Rioja Province (Argentina)

La Rioja is a one of the provinces of Argentina and is located in the west of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Catamarca Province, C?rdoba Province, Argentina, San Luis Province and San Juan Province, Argentina....
, both of which belong to the same geological formation.

Description

It has an area of , most of them within the Valle Fértil Department
Valle Fértil Department

Valle F?rtil is a department located in the province of San Juan Province . Characterized by highly fertile landscapes and placed within its surface Ischigualasto Provincial Park, also known asValley of the Moon, which is heavily visited by tourists from around the world....
, with a minor part in the Jachal Department
Jáchal Department

J?chal is a department of the province of San Juan Province . It is located north of the same by making, characterized by its first level agricultural production, which emphasizes the planting of onion....
 of San Juan, at an altitude
Altitude

Altitude has multiple uses depending on the context in which it is used . As a general definition, altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object....
 of about above mean sea level
Above mean sea level

The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum . AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach....
. The park is part of the western border of the Pampean Hills, and it features typical desert vegetation (bushes
Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticulture rather than strictly Botany category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall....
, cacti
Cactus

A cactus is any member of the spine plant family Cactaceae, native to the Americas. They are often used as ornamental plants, but some are also Crop plants....
 and some trees) which covers between 10 and 20% of the area. The climate
Climate

Climate encompasses the temperatures, humidity, atmospheric pressure, winds, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and numerous other Meteorology elements in a given region over long periods of time, as opposed to the term weather, which refers to current activity of these same elements....
 is very dry, with rainfall mostly during the summer, and temperature
Temperature

In physics, temperature is a physical property of a Physical system that underlies the common notions of hot and cold; something that feels hotter generally has the greater temperature....
 extremes (minimum -10 °C, maximum 45 °C). There is a constant southern wind with a speed of 20-40 km/h after noon and until the evening, sometimes accompanied by an extremely strong zonda wind
Zonda wind

Zonda wind is a regional term for the Foehn wind wind that often occurs on the eastern slope of the Andes, in Argentina. The Zonda is a dry wind which comes from the south pole Pacific Ocean air, warmed by descent from the crest, which is some 6,000 metre above sea level....
.

Paleontology

The Ischigualasto Formation contains Late Triassic
Triassic

The Triassic is a geologic period that extends from about 251 to 199 annum . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic....
 (Carnian
Carnian

The Carnian is the lowermost stage of the Upper Triassic series . Its boundaries are not characterized by major extinctions or biotic turnovers, but a climatic event occurred during the Carnian and seems to be associated with important extinctions or biotic radiations....
) deposits (230 million years before the present), with some of the oldest known dinosaur
Dinosaur

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
 remains, which are the world's first with regards to quality, number and importance. It is the only place in the world where nearly all of the Triassic is represented in an undisturbed sequence of rock deposits. This allows for the study of the transition between dinosaur
Dinosaur

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
s and ancient mammal
Mammal

Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose name is derived from their distinctive feature, mammary glands, with which they feed their young....
s; research is ongoing. The arid badlands around the formation are known as Valle de la Luna ("Valley of the Moon") due to their rugged, otherworldly appearance. In the Carnian this area was a volcanically
Volcano

A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planet's surface or Crust , which allows hot, molten rock, ash, and gases to escape from below the surface....
 active floodplain
Floodplain

||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||}A floodplain, or flood plain, is flat or nearly flat land adjacent to a stream or river that experiences occasional or periodic flooding....
 dominated by river
River

A river is a natural stream of water, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, or another stream. In some cases a river flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water....
s and had a strongly seasonal rainfall. Petrified tree trunks of Protojuniperoxylon ischigualastianus more than tall attest to a rich vegetation at that time. Fossil fern
Fern

A fern is any one of a group of about 20,000 species of plants classified in the phylum or division Pteridophyta, also known as Filicophyta....
s and horsetail
Horsetail

Equisetum is the only living genus in the Equisetaceae, a family of vascular plants that reproduce by spores rather than seeds. They are commonly known as horsetails....
s have also been found.

Rhynchosaur
Rhynchosaur

Rhynchosaurs were a group of unusual Triassic diapsid reptiles related to the Archosauria. They were herbivores, and at times abundant , with stocky bodies and a powerful beak....
s and cynodont
Cynodont

Cynodonts, or 'dog teeth', are a taxon of Therapsids which includes modern mammals and their extinct close relatives. They were one of the most diverse groups of therapsids....
s are by far the predominant findings among the tetrapod fossils in the park. Dinosaur
Dinosaur

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
s comprise only 6% of the findings, but these include early samples of the two major lineages of dinosaurs (ornithischians and saurischians). The carnivorous archosaur
Archosaur

Archosaurs are a group of diapsid reptiles represented by modern birds and crocodilians. This group also includes extinct non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs and relatives of crocodiles....
 Herrerasaurus
Herrerasaurus

Herrerasaurus was one of the earliest dinosaurs. All known specimens of this carnivore have been discovered in northwest of Argentina, in late Triassic Period rocks ....
 is the most numerous of these dinosaur fossils. Another important putative dinosaur with primitive characteristics is Eoraptor lunensis, found in Ischigualasto in the early 1990s.

Dinosaurs

Dinosaur
Dinosaur

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
s of the Ischigualasto Formation
Taxa Presence Notes Images
Genus:
  • Eoraptor
    Eoraptor

    Eoraptor was one of the world's earliest dinosaurs. It was a Biped Carnivore that lived between 230 and 225 million years ago, in what is now the northwestern region of Argentina....
  1. E. lunensis
  • Geographically present in the Provincia de San Juan.
    		•   ]]
    Genus:
    • Herrerasaurus
      Herrerasaurus

      Herrerasaurus was one of the earliest dinosaurs. All known specimens of this carnivore have been discovered in northwest of Argentina, in late Triassic Period rocks ....
    1. H. ischigualastensis
  • Geographically present in the Provincia de San Juan.
    		•
    • Includes Ischisaurus cattoi, Frenguellisaurus ischigualastensis, and cf. Staurikosaurus
      Staurikosaurus

      Staurikosaurus is a genus of early dinosaur from the Late Triassic of Brazil....
       sp.
    Genus:
    • Panphagia
      Panphagia

      Panphagia is a genus of sauropodomorpha dinosaur. Fossil were found in late 2006 in rocks of the Ischigualasto Formation of Valle Pintado, Ischigualasto Provincial Park, San Juan Province , Argentina....
    1. P. protos
  • Geographically present in the Provincia de San Juan.
    		•
    • The basalmost known genus of sauropodomorph.
    Genus:
    • Pisanosaurus
      Pisanosaurus

      Pisanosaurus is a genus of primitive ornithischian dinosaur from the Late Triassic of what is now South America. It was a bipedalism herbivore described by Argentine paleontologist Rodolfo Casamiquela in 1967....
    1. P. mertii
  • Geographically present in the Provincia de la Rioja.
    		•  
    Suborder:
    • Theropoda
      Theropoda

      Theropods are a group of bipedal saurischian dinosaurs. Although they were primarily carnivorous, a number of theropod families evolved herbivore during the Cretaceous Period ....
    1. Undescribed theropod.
  • Geographically present in the Provincia de San Juan.
    		•  


    See also



    Spanish language references

    • .
    • - Valle de la Luna - Ischigualasto.
    • - La importancia científica de Ischigualasto.
    • - Official website of the park's administration.
    • .