Prehistoric Trackways National Monument
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The Prehistoric Trackways National Monument is an American national monument in Doña Ana County, northwest of Las Cruces , New Mexico . It is located in the northern tip of the Chihuahua Desert . It has been prepared by the United States Congress with the law Omnibus Public Land Management Act , as part of the National Landscape Conservation System , adopted and on 30 March 2009, President Barack Obama signed. It has been designated an area of 5255 acres (2127 hectares ).
The reserve includes an important site of fossils from the Pleistocene and their surroundings. 280 million year old fossils of footprints of numerous amphibians, reptiles and insects, including previously unknown species, as well as plants and petrified wood, have been found. The sanctuary borders directly on the northwestern part of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument to the north, west and south .
administration
The Prehistoric Trackways National Monument is under the administration of the Bureau of Land Management . There was a single sign in the area when evicted. There are no facilities and only unpaved roads in the protected area.
Finds
The trace fossils of the footprints were discovered on June 6, 1987 by Jerry Paul MacDonald at the so-called Discovery Site . There were finds of various pelycosaurs , Edaphosaurus , Eryops and Dimetrodon . Petrified plants were also found. Over 2500 stone slabs with fossils were removed by MacDonald on foot. Most of the finds are in the Jerry MacDonald Paleozoic Trackways Collection in the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science and a smaller portion in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution .
Animal and plant species
Among the few animal species in the desert area are the mule deer , Audubon cottontail rabbits , rattlesnakes , some bird species, and numerous species of lizards.
The plant species or genera Fouquieria splendens , mesquite trees , creosote bush , opuntia , yucca faxoniana , barrel cactus, dasylirion , agaves and Gutierrezia occur.
Web links
- New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources : Prehistoric Trackways National Monument (official site )
Coordinates: 32 ° 21 ′ 0 ″ N , 106 ° 54 ′ 0 ″ W.
Individual evidence
- ↑ United States Congress: Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, Title II . October 3, 2009. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
- ↑ Jerry MacDonald (1994): Earths First Steps. Boulder Co .: Johnson Printing. ISBN 978-0585036632