Talampaya National Park

The National Park Talampaya (Spanish: Parque Nacional Talampaya ) is in the northwest of Argentina, in the southwest of the province of La Rioja, in up to 1,300 m high mountain range of the Sierra and the Sierra de Los Colorados Sañogasta.

The reserve covers 215,000 hectares and protects the desert-like landscape in the valley of the Rio Talampaya in which the erosion of multi-colored rock formations has produced (eg, the Ciudad Perdida 'Lost City' and the duct system Las Canaletas ). There are also several archaeological sites in the area ( petroglyphs, ruins of residential buildings ) and an intact flora and fauna.

The in the park encountered, fossil -bearing rock originated from sediments that have been deposited on the mainland during the Triassic, the oldest system of the Mesozoic. Together with the rocks just a few kilometers to the south, nature reserve Ischigualasto, the duration of this section of the earth's 251 to 199.6 mya in the rock strata ( Ischigualasto Formation ) documented. Therefore, the fossil record contained in it is unique in the world, as the evolution of the vertebrate fauna and the nature of the palaeo-environment over the entire course of the triad can reproduce here. So found on today's park area in rocks from the Middle Triassic fossils of Lagosuchus talampayensis among others, a close relative and contemporary of the first dinosaurs.

Access to the National Park carried out over the village of Villa Unión, which is 70 km north. At the entrance of the valley Talampaya the small settlement of Puerta de Talampaya is also a hotel belongs to the. Tours of the park are only allowed with the leaders.

In 2000, UNESCO declared Talampaya and Ischigualasto together a World Heritage Site.