CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Even though the Geological Heritage is the undervalued element of any conservation policy, it is the basic component of Natural Heritage when carrying out any analysis of a territorial nature. In this sense, the conservation of geological heritage requires not only a correct identification, classification and adequate valuation, but also an efficient management and conservation towards its subsistence. In this framework, moveable heritage is an outstanding part of geology, being made up of collections that include notorious rock samples, fossils of different nature and microscopic preparations that are generally housed in museums or specialized sites, protected and maintained mostly for use in research or educational purposes.In Argentina, the ownership of the Geological Heritage, its management and protection is enforced by the state through laws and regulations (National Law Nr 25743/03), which desing and regulate the legal handling of heritage pieces. Regardless of the numerous observations that can be done over the law -due to inconsistencies and somehow its inapplicability-, it represents the path to follow from a regulatory point of view.Moveable geological heritage must recover, classify, value and preserve objects of a unique type, contributing to the knowledge of nature, promoting its responsible protection in pursuit of the generation of social awareness and scientific knowledge, as an essential resource for the development of a nation.This work refers particularly to the moveable geological heritage included in the geological and paleontological collections deposited at the Universidad Nacional de Tucumán (UNT, Argentina), which are represented by paleontological material of vertebrates and invertebrates (macro and microscopic), rock samples (hand samples and thin sections), as well as paleobotanical preparations housed in various dependencies belonging or linked to the UNT (Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo, Instituto Superior de Correlación Geológica and Fundación Miguel Lillo).2 The Geological Collections of the Universidad Nacional de TucumánThe Universidad Nacional de Tucumán is the most important higher education center in Northwest Argentina, with an enrollment of over 75.000 students; it has a rich regional history since it was the origin of other academic units, such as the national universities of Salta, Catamarca and Jujuy.In this framework, natural sciences were important in its early development, as part of the discoverers of remarkable mineral deposits in the region, leading it to become one of the owners of the most important gold mine in northern Argentina (Farallón Negro mining district). The geological and naturalistic imprint of the University is reflected by the presence and generation of remarkable geological institutes (Instituto de Geología y Mineríade Jujuy, Instituto Miguel Lillo, Instituto Superior de CorrelaciónGeológica and Fundación Miguel Lillo).It is in this area where the collections of Paleontology (vertebrates, invertebrates and microfossils), Paleobotany and Petrology have been preserved, with a significant number of samples that establish them as reference collections in the whole region and country.XInternationalOnline ProGEO Symposium, Spain, 7-10th June, 2021Among the Paleontological collections, the Lillo Invertebrate Paleontology Collection (acronym PIL) started out in 1969 with Gilberto Aceñolaza, and consists of almost 6000 specimens from the Cordillera Oriental, Puna and Famatina System. The collection was complemented with additional material from Patagonia. Paleozoic specimens predominate, represented by traces fossils, trilobites, graptolites, echinoderms and mollusks, some of which represent type species (Lech and Tortello, 1995).The Lillo Vertebrate Paleontology Collection (acronym PVL) had its beginnings with materials collected from the provinces of Catamarca and Tucumán in the 1930´s and 1940´s, including late Miocene and Pliocene mammals. In 1958, Osvaldo Reig began with the formal catalog of the fossil material, followed by José Bonaparte who was in charge of it from 1959 to 1979. Currently the PVL has 7680 specimens, with 120 holotypes that includes Mesozoic, Tertiary and Quaternary vertebrates from northwestern Argentina and Patagonia, and is a must-see for scientists around the world.The Paleobotanical Collection of the Fundación Miguel Lillo was created by Sergio Archangelsky in 1955 (acronym LIL-Pb), mostly including Carboniferous, Permian, Mesozoic and Tertiary samples from western Argentina and Patagonia, and later enriched with British material. The LIL-Pb is composed mainly of compressions, impressions and molds of some vegetative plant organs, megaspores, fruits and seeds preserved as rock fragments, that are associated to the Microscopic Preparations of the Instituto Miguel Lillo (acronym LIL-PB-Pm). This collection had its beginnings in the 1950s, was initially managed by Rafael Herbst, being followed by Maríadel Milagro Vergel as the curator and researcher in the subject. Late Paleozoic, Cretaceous, Tertiary from different areas of Argentina that included subsurface cores are represented in this group. Starting in the 90´s, Cambrian and Ordovician aged material was added to it, including Bolivian and Peruvian samples from the Cordillera Oriental and the Subandean Region of South America. The palynological collection as a whole (Fundación Miguel Lillo and INSUGEO) includes more than 600 preparations, each one having several montages of a same level. This collection is a part of a wider South American RESCEPP network (RedeSul-Americana de Coleções e EnsinoemPaleobotânica e Palinologia).The Lillo Microvertebrate Collection-Conodonts was created in 2011 as the first collection of this group in the region (acronym CML-C). It is mainly formed by samples from Cordillera Oriental, Puna and Famatina System. Associated to the latter, it shall be mentioned the Egagrophil material with CEI acronyms.On the other hand, rock samples and thin sections collections must also be mentioned, represented by an outstanding set of samples compiled by Alejandro Toselli over 30 years as Professor of Petrology of UNT and CONICET researcher. The collection was enriched with the valuable contribution of latter colleagues. This collection was recently donated by A. Toselli to the Fundación Miguel Lillo. The thin sections are numbered from 1 to 2245 and were first published in Aceñolaza (1971). The collection includes a wide variety of rocks, from the most common such as granitoids, vulcanites and metamorphic samples, some sedimentary material and some exceptional samples such as eclogites, lamprophyres, phonolites and shonkinites. These rocks were collected in different places throughout Argentina, including La Rioja, San Juan, Salta, Jujuy, Tucumán, Catamarca, Santiago del Estero, San Luis and Córdoba provinces. International samples donated by different colleagues from Germany, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, USA, South Africa, Italy, Madagascar and the Antarctica are included. Some of them deserve to be highlighted, either for their rarity or for their representativeness, such as basalt from the Igneous Province of Karoo (South Africa), leucitophyre from Pompeii and basalt from Deception Island, among others.The importance of the collections presented here is due to the historical significance of the geological/paleontological materials and of those who constituted the first geological schools in the northern region of Argentina, currently with international prestige.ReferencesAceñolaza F (1971) Geología estratigráfica de la zona comprendida entre Punta del Agua y Rincón Blanco, Departamento General Lamadrid, La Rioja, con especial referencia a la posición estratigráfica de los niveles fosilíferos del Carbonífero marino. Acta Geológica Lilloana 11(7): 128-148.Lech RR, Tortello MF (1995) Catálogo de invertebrados fósiles publicados, 1970-1993. Colección Paleontología Invertebrados Lillo. INSUGEO, Miscelánea 1: 70 pp.