I was at the paleontological research centre in Villa de Leyva. as you can see, the saga of that magical place continues.
There, once you arrive and pay the entrance fee, there is a guide who interprets the whole tour. although it is a small space, there is enough to take us back to millions of years ago.
to take us back to millions of years ago.
It is really incredible to see those archaeological remains, skeletons of beings that lived and were on this planet long before us.
Some of these pieces are original, others are replicas and sometimes the originals at that particular time are being studied.
This image shows that in the Cretaceous (130 - 120 million years ago) a considerable area of Colombia was occupied by water.
CRETACEOUS SEA OF COLOMBIA
At the beginning of the Mesozoic, 245 million years ago, the territory corresponding to Colombia was almost entirely submerged under the waters of Panthalasa; only a few quartzite rocky outcrops emerged from the oldest formations of the South American continent that today form part of the Guyanese Shield - Roraima Formation - and the Brazilian Shield. The Macarena, Chiribiquete and Tunahí mountain ranges, outcrops of the Amazonian plain, stood out in the midst of a shallow sea that covered most of the country.
In the middle of the Triassic, 225 million years ago, the first volcanic formations began to emerge in the central part of our territory and a great seismic activity was generated that lasted for more than 100 million years. Since then, the large reptiles that inhabited these territories began to show endemic characteristics that increased due to the subsequent isolation at the beginning of the Jurassic, 210 million years ago, when South America broke away from Pangaea, the world's macrocontinent.
At the beginning of the Cretaceous, 135 million years ago, due to intense volcanic activity and the processes of subduction and convergence of three plates, the Andes mountain range began to rise in the current Central Cordillera, certain areas of deserts and plains were defined, and some salt lakes and marshlands were isolated. For more than 60 million years, the sea alternately advanced and retreated until it consolidated a very extensive layer of calcareous mud that became chalk and chalk - hence the name of the period. With the definitive retreat of the water at the beginning of the Tertiary Era, the conformation of our country, especially in the centre and south, presented physical characteristics very similar to those of today. Large quantities of ammonites, molluscs and echinids appeared among the calcareous mud of a vast area that coincides with the current departments of Cundinamarca, Boyacá, Santanderes, Cesar, Guajira, Magdalena, Atlántico, Bolívar and Sucre.
The evidence of this Cretaceous sea in Colombia can be seen in multiple mineralogical and biological manifestations caused by processes of evaporation, precipitation and transformation of components which, added to volcanic activity and active orogenesis, generated an accumulation of minerals in this prehistoric sea basin; some of these deposits remained in the inter-Andean valleys and in the jungle belt when the uplift of the Andes ended, others were stored in the mountain peaks or in the Cundiboyacense highlands.
Salt domes in Zipaquirá, Nemocón, Upía and Cocuy; coal and coke mines in Boyacá, Guajira and Santander; gypsum deposits in Sáchica; natural dolomite glass in Nemocón; Traventine marble and ammonite in Villa de Leyva; limestone rock and cement in Nobsa; ematite, pyrite and iron mines in Belencito and oil deposits in Cusiana and Guaduas, are some of the materials that this continental sea left us as a legacy.
Sixty-five million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous, the dinosaurs disappeared and seismic and volcanic activity resumed. Research at the University of California confirms that this time coincided with the fall of a huge space object near the Yucatan Peninsula, which unleashed waves over 150 m high, caused gigantic fires and formed a dust cloud that hid the sun for years; the impact wiped out 90% of land vertebrates. After this episode, the plates were rearranged, the definitive geography of our country was formed, the Central American isthmus emerged and through it came mammals with a multitude of genera and biological families, highly adaptable to the conditions of this environment.
Taken from Colombia Underwater Universe
The experience was something very enjoyable, personally I love to learn more about these subjects... natural world, living beings, etc.
we got to the plant fossils and i couldn't be happier. to see the different shapes printed on those rocks is just great.
If you look at this one you can see my reflection.
The image reads
Leaves of angiosperm plants
Location Villa de Leiva, Boyacá
Age: Pleistocene (Quaternary period)
Approximately 1.5 to 2.5 million years ago
Collector: Fundación Colombiana de Geobiología
They also show us that in the Holocene (quaternary period), that is, 11700 years before the present, they found in Cimatarra, Santander in a Copal Colombia.
found in Cimatarra, Santander in a Copal Colombia. They found insects preserved in tree resin.
More specimens. Ammonoids, or better known as ammonites, are a subclass of extinct cephalopod molluscs that existed in the seas from the Middle Devonian to the Late Cretaceous.
/Skeleton of a giant tortoise
Trilobite. Arthropod
Location: Morocco, Africa
Age: Paleozoic approximately 540 million years ago
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