Welcome to Enciso, land of dinosaurs!
Today we propose to make a different exit for all kinds of public where with some of them, in the area, we can travel through millions of years and how we live the inhabitants of the earth during the Jurassic and the Cretaceous.
This is a privileged place for the rocks that make up its territory, the formations in the environments of the Upper Jurassic and the Lower Cretaceous, host an important fossil record of continental vertebrates (by quantity, quality and diversity), which is faithfully terrestrial ecosystems from that moment in the history of the earth and the conversion to a place in the most appreciated and recognized places in Europe at a paleontological level.
Along with fossil footprints, eggs and bones of dinosaur that have been found in Encimientos and environs, remains of flying reptiles, amphibians, fish, plants and even mammals.
The Iguanodon
Found in Galve, the Iguanodon (iguana tooth) is a type of ornitópodos iguanodontids dinosaur who lived in the early Cretaceous period about approximately 130 to 120 million years ago, between the Berriasiense and the Aptian in what is now Europe.
¡A lot of species of Iguanodon have been described, dating from the Kimmeridgian, late Jurassic to Cenomanian Upper Cretaceous in Asia, Europe, and North America. However, since the first decade of the century we tend to recognize a single species, the Iguanodon bernissartensis, who lived in the Lower Cretaceous of Europe.
In the 80s and since the beginning of the 90s, the Universities of Madrid and Zaragoza have studied the dinosaurs of Galve to safeguard, protect and publicize this valuable Aragonese heritage so popular in recent years.
Classification
Iguanodon gives its name to the branch not rated of Iguanodontia, a very populous group of ornithopods with many known species of the Middle Jurassic to Cretaceous. Of this group, Iguanodon is the best known.
Where is it located?
A large part of Iguanodon fossils has been discovered at the Galve clay mine. More specifically, in June 2015, a new species of Iguanodon with more than 1100 bones of young was discovered in this same place in what is known as San Cristóbal 2 site. The new species is called Iguanodon Galvensis and is the fifth new species of dinosaur found in Galve and tenth in the province of Teruel.
The Iguanodon Bernissartensis was found in the coal mines of the Belgian town of Bernissart (now closed). We found 5 very well preserved skeletons, with the particularity that the bones are black (like coal), unlike the white / brown color we know today. One of them is in the museum of the dinosaur in Bernissart while the other four are in the Museum of Natural History of Brusselas since it was the latter that financed the rescue works. Do not forget that they were found 300 meters below sea level and due to their size, it took 9 months to get them all out of the mine.
Life style
Iguanodon, because of their size and abundance, are considered an herbivore of medium size, although it is unknown exactly what Iguanodon ate with its robust jaws. Some authors like David Norman, have suggested that their diet could be based on horsetails, cycads and conifers; Iguanodon size bernissartensis allowed him to reach the foliage of trees up to four or five meters high.
The concept of this Earthcache is that the geocacher to knows this dinosaur and that he enjoys this incredible place. I could explain more about the subject but I like my Earthcaches to be brief and concise so visitors leave the place having learned something new. Enjoy it!
To validate your log, please send me the answers to the following questions. You can log without waiting for my reply, if a problem occurs we will try to find a solution together.
Log this cache as a "found it" and send me your answers via my profile or via message on geocaching.com, and I will contact you in case of problem.
1-. Could you tell me how many footprints (icnites) there are in this site in front of you?
2-. Are they all from Iguanodones?
3-. In the reproduction of the three Iguanodons and with the help of listing, could you tell me if these reproductions are faithful to an Iguanodon skeleton? Why?