Location, access

In the Jurassic period, when the Andes Cordillera did not yet exist and the climate was warmer and more humid, an araucaria forest developed there (of the ancestral species miriabilis, a predecessor of today's monkey-puzzle trees or pehuenes), which could exceed 100 meters in height, 3 meters in diameter and 1,000 years of life.

With the formation of the Andes at the end of the Mesozoic era, volcanic eruptions and windstorms knocked down these trees, burying them under a thick layer of ash that prevented their natural decomposition. Over the course of thousands of years, water filtered through the ash layers, enriched with dissolved mineral salts, replacing the original plant material with inorganic materials such as silica, calcite, pyrite and others. This petrification process created huge fossils of the original woody material while preserving perfect details of the bark, wood cell structure, colors and textures.

They are arranged in two main groupings around the Madre and Hija hills (Mother & Daughter), which were part of an ancient volcanic cone.

The Petrified Forests of Jaramillo is considered one of the best reserves of petrified trees in the world. It was declared a Natural Monument in 1954 and transformed into a National Park in 2012, covering an area of 78,543 ha.

The Ranger Station has an interpretation center and small museum, and visitors can walk along a Paleontological Trail, where they can see large specimens of petrified araucarias.

The park's emblem is the guanaco (Lama guanicoe), the largest camelid in South America. Its long, thick fur protects it from harsh weather conditions. Other animals of the local fauna are: The Patagonian weasel, the piche (armadillo), the gray fox and, among the birds, the choique or suri (small rhea), the red-breasted loica, the tucúquere (a large owl) and the Patagonian keú (partridge).

The cold, arid and windy climate, with a wide daily temperature range, develops a typical flora of the Patagonian Steppe ecoregion: thorny shrubs, such as molle, Patagonian carob and calafate, as well as grassland bushes, such as the different species of coirones.

© Photos: Kathy Binder. Text: Universes in Universe.