The dinosaur site of Arén (Huesca). It is an example of those rare and fortunate cases in the history of life, it is the portrait of a period of time in which life on the Earth's crust was suffering or was going to suffer one of the greatest transformations known in the history of life. earth, the great extinction at the end of the Cretaceous, or in the vocabulary of specialists, the K/T limit (limit between the Mesozoic and the Tertiary).
Corythosaur.
The Arén dinosaur is part of a series of dinosaur discoveries in Aragon throughout 1997, which made headlines in the local, national and international media.
These discoveries are the first results of the research team that was formed at the beginning of the 90s at the Paleontological Museum of the University of Zaragoza. Despite the great social impact that these fossils have, there are very few Spanish teams dedicated to dinosaurs and possibly the one from Zaragoza is one of the youngest and the one with the furthest to go.
The story of the Arén dinosaur began three years ago when the geologist Luis Ardévol, (=Lluís Ardèvol) found some dinosaur remains scattered in a sandstone from the Upper Cretaceous. This discovery was accidental, since he was carrying out geological mapping of the surroundings of Arén. Armengol knows the famous sites of Tremp (Lérida) well, and that is why he realized the great importance of the remains that he had found. A few weeks later, a visit to the site made it possible to find some very complete remains.
A warning of the possible existence of dinosaurs in the town are the ichnites (fossil footprints of dinosaurs), existing in the vicinity of this municipality.
The dinosaur was found in a stratum made up of fine-grained sand, but very hardened (recrystallized) in subsequent processes (diagenesis). To extract the bone remains, it has been necessary to use special machinery (radial cutters, pneumatic hammers, drills, etc.) and all the manual tools used in paleontological excavations: picks, shovels, chisels, maces and mallets. /p>
About forty pieces have been found, among which a femur and the vertebrae of the tail stand out, but the remains of a tibia have also appeared, unfortunately quite deteriorated, several ribs, some teeth,...
These are the ones identified but there are others that emerge slightly and until the team made up of professors from the Complutense University of Madrid, the University of Zaragoza, the University of the Basque Country and the Ilerdense Studies Institute, finish extracting, cleaning and conditioning, it is very difficult to determine what they are and what part of the body they correspond to.
It is extremely strange that complete dinosaur skeletons appear. In fact, it is quite a success to find a quarter or half. That is why the discovery of Arén is so important, also adding to the "youth" of this species.
The remains found could correspond to the group of hadrosaurs, which were large herbivorous dinosaurs that stood on two legs and had a long tail.
This hadrosaur measured about six meters long from the end of the tail to the head, while the height of its legs to the hips ranged between two and two and a half meters.
To the importance of the conservation of the remains and their dating (70 million years ago near the mass extinction line), we must add the presence at the site of other remains such as turtle plates and crocodile teeth from the same time.
At that time this area was a marsh, since the animals found lived in a tropical climate, and along with the dinosaurs all types of tropical fauna coexisted, such as turtles, crocodiles and a great diversity of mammals.
The Cultural Association of Areny (Arén) is preparing and marking two tourist routes on the remains of dinosaurs discovered in the town.
The creation of a paleontological museum in the old Town Hall is also underway.
Dinosaurs in Aragon.
- Introduction to the Dinosaurios.
- That they are the Dinosaurios.?
- The Origin of the Dinosaurios.
- Classification of the Dinosaurios.
- Dinosaurios Saurisquios.
- Dinosaurios Ornistiquios.
- Hadrosaurios.
- Dinosaurio Euparkeria.
- Dinosaurs in Arén. Huesca.
- Dinosaurs in Galve. Teruel.
- Dinosaurs in Peñarroya de Tastavins. Teruel.
- Huellas de Dinosaurios en Ababuj. Teruel.
- Dinopolis: Teruel Capital of Dinosaurs.
Other subjects on Geology in Aragon
- Geologic history of Aragon.
- Approach to the Geology of Aragon.
- The Climate in Aragon.
- The Relief in Aragon.
- Geologic patrimony in Aragon.
- The Aragonese Geologic units.
- The Geologic means Aragones.
- Spaces of Natural Interest in Aragon.
- The territory like Natural Patrimony in Aragon.
- What is Geology?
- The Agents Geologic: Action of the Water and the Ice.
- The Rocks: Recognition and Classification.
- The Reliefs.
- The Fossils.
- Bibliography.
- Dictionary
- Classification of the eras or Geologic times.
- Other directions on Geology in Internet.
Points of Geologic interest in Aragon.
Teruel
- Poljes Torrijas - Abejuela
- Dolinas de Villar of the Cobo
- Stone peat bogs and rivers of Mountain range of the Tremedal
- Iron mines of Black Eyes
- Organos de Montoro and tube of river Pitarque
- Alluvial fan of Palomera Mountain range
- Val de Ariño
- Salty of Alcañiz
- Paleocanales exhumados of Alcañiz
- The Parrisal (Ports of Beceite)
- Crystal grottos
- Poljes de Mosqueruela
Zaragoza
- Lagoon of Gallocanta (Zaragoza - Teruel)
- Piedra monastery
- Steppes of Belchite
- Galachos de Juslibol and the Alfranca
- Natural park of the Meadow of Moncayo
- Bardenas Eastern
- Meanders of Sastago
- Bath of Alhama de Aragon
- Mountain range of Alcubierre and Monegros (Zaragoza - Huesca)
- Operations of Eddy Salt (Zaragoza)
Huesca
- Baths of Panticosa
- Mallos de Riglos and Mountain range of Loarre
- San Juan of the Peña and grottos of Villanúa
- National park of Ordesa and Monte Perdido
- Circus of the Larri and glacier Perdido Mount
- Valley of Lizara
- Forau de Aigualluts and glaciers of Aneto - Maladeta
- Mountain range of Guara
Also Aragon enjoys a diverse and varied Nature where passing by plants, animals, Geology, or landscapes we can arrive at a fantastic bestiary that lives in its monuments.
The information will not be complete without a stroll by its three provinces, with shutdown in some of its spectacular landscapes like Ordesa, the Moncayo, Monegros or by opposition the Ebro.
Also you can dedicarte to the intangible ones: from the legend compilation that also does to universal Aragon.