In the Eastern coast of Asturias, a lot of fossils and traces of a fertile colonization of dinosaurs are being found every day. The Coastal border between Tazones (Villaviciosa) to Camangu (Ribadesella) works as a mirror of beautiful low cliffs where the dinosaurs left their traces. From then until the present day investigations have not stopped, and the most renowned experts of our country often come to this coast, in order to verify the real importance of these findings.

From a political point of view all these findings and discoveries are not being taken into account seriously. It has taken more than two years for the government of the region to approve a Jurassic Museum project. The central office is in Colunga, after an institucional deliberation between the authorities and the municipalities involved.

These natural archives of the Jurassic period conform what the geographers called estatigraphic forms. The second area of this period is the most important in those findings. The traces of bipeds as well as quadrupeds, carnivorous and vegetarians are the most frecuent, varying from a pigeon’s foot trace to an elephant foot trace, ten times bigger than the elephants of today. But also in this area are found traces of tortoises, cocodriles and marine reptiles, fishes, vegetables, trunks, tiny organisms, trails of the Jurassic swell and many more interesting traces.

It is known that the Superior Jurassic in Asturias showed an extremely arid climate, and its coasts were also low with no presence of cliffs at first. There was a time in which sea and land distribution was radically different from the present. One “megacontinent” was divided into two due to the apariton of the Atlantic Ocean and the movement of the tectonic plates. A big part of Asturias was immersed under water during the Inferior Jurassic. In that time, there was a huge salt-marsh where all the big and small organisms living there left their traces. The dinosaurs found this place to be the perfect environment to satisfy their daily necessities in order to survive.

The current investigations are being carried out by José García Ramos, Professor of Geology of the University of Oviedo.

We can find in Asturias many wonderful places to follow the Jurassic’s traces such as Playa la Griega in Colunga and in dozens of coastal sites of Villaviciosa and Ribadesella. Here in Ribadesella, you can visit the low coast of Tereñes, very well kown for its Jurassic findings and its beautiful landscape.

If go down the route we get to the Pedral de Tereñes where a lot of large and small rocks of the Jurassic period are placed.

The greatest number of traces found here were on plain rock as is usual in these cases. The first scientific thought about these traces was called “Dinoturbation”, because of the many dinosaurs that passed over the place. However, not long ago this theory changed. The fact is that if we analyse the length of these traces and their size, it is clear that all these traces are parallel among them. With the symmetry that reveals that dinosaurs used to walk in groups, living together and sharing their way of life. Most of these traces belong to the herbivores bipeds, their traces appearing on the top of the rocks. The carnivorous bipeds used to have pointed fingers, and at the same time used to eat the herbivores ones.

It is usual to find these traces in many places. In rocks it is also common to find what are called “contramoldes”. These kinds of traces usually appeared on the tops of rocks as a result of the effects of sedimentation and the passage of time.

Also in this visit, one can find different dark marks blackened by the effect of phosphate on the rock face. All these marks are relevant because they all have their own history. Many of them belong to Jurassic fish scales and different fossils of marine and terrestrial vegetables.

It is also relevant to talk about the cracked Jurassic floors. Thanks to their heavy composition these rocks became suitable walls for the first human forts. Some medieval houses of this region were initially built from the first shapes of the floor, some examples of this are some of the town councils of the region.

The Jurassic period is still nowadays open to social debate. For many, the Jurasic floor is simply a beautiful place of relaxation, where one can sit down on the rocks, catch octopus or fish, swim, dive around the beaches or simply touch the smooth stones to relax the mind. Most of these places in the Pedral are mainly Jurassic and for that reason many people come to visit.

To see the virtual visits of the routes on foot through this Jurassic Coast, please click here.

For further information about the Jurassic in Asturias you can visit this website: www.museojurasico.com.

Traslation by Rebeca Couto.

Interesting info de Cliffs of Tereñes

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