Comodoro Rivadavia · Petrified Forest José Ormachea
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Visit the place where nature celebrates its 65 million years anniversary. The excursion to this mute testimony of past fertility starts from the small and rather colourless village Sarmiento, 145km from Comodoro Rivadavia. Heading southwest and after 38km of dirt road you will reach this natural reserve that you can visit with the guidance of the park rangers. There is also an exhibition area and various services. It is estimated that this forest has its origins 150 million years ago and it was a thick jungle with giant reptiles and a humid climate. The Andean mountain range did not exist yet and humid air was able to stream in from the Pacific coast. A volcanic phenomenon must have covered the forest about 65 million years ago. At that moment, the growing Andean mountains started to block the humid currents from the Pacific. The slow molecular process of petrifaction began to transform the forest into stone. Most of the trees are lying on the ground but some are still in vertical position, with petrified roots. The following extreme differences of temperature, the steady strong winds, and the very short but heavy rain showers of the actual climate created the scurrile moonlandscape you can appreciate today. A large number of the fossilized trees were Araucarias, some may have reached a height of 100m. But also other species of conifers, extinguished ferns, and fungus are present. Even fossils of batrachians were found. The park occupies about 10,000 hectares. There are two ways to visit it: a short walk on marked trails or a 3 hours tour in a cross-country vehicle with the guidance of a park ranger. The typical arid steppe and the surrounding hills make this place a must to visit. |
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