Cretaceous Park

Walking with dinosaurs... The Neuquen bassin in argentinian Patagonia yields one of the world's largest concentration of dinosaur fossils. In some areas, dinosaur bones can be found in the open. One just needs to know where and what to look for, and our teacher on the geology fieldtrip, former paleontologist Duncan McIlroy, certainly does. Some 100 million years ago, the giant Argentinosaurus herbivores and their carnivore counterparts Gigantosaurus were roaming freely the Patagonian lands. Today, together with their bones scattered along the landscape can be found footprints, and even the cretaceous vegetation - the pehuen trees. This is "Cretaceous Park". (Click to enlarge pictures)

Pehuen trees were present already in the cretaceous. This is the kind of landscape a dinosaur would have seen.

The Gigantosaurus, a larger version of the T-Rex, 98 millions old. This reconstitution is displayed in the museum in Plaza Huincul.

Argentinosaurus giant herbivore was contemporary of the Gigantosaurus. Reconstitution in Plaza Huincul museum.

The rugged landscape near the Cerro Banderas oilfield is where one can go for dinosaur hunting in the open. Of course, the provincial government prohibits taking any bones.

My first find. These bones might have belonged, acording to Duncan, to an Argentinosaur.

Formidably preserved dinosaur footprints can be admired near Villa El Chocon. This one, ca. 25cm long, was probably created by a raptor.