The importance of paleontological sites of the Mar Chiquita lake (Córdoba province, Argentina) and the need for their technical and legal protection

LUNA, CARLOS ALBERTO

Miramar, Córdoba

Congreso; 11th International Conference on Salt Lake Research; 2011

International Society for Salt Lake Research

The paleontological sites of Mar Chiquita Lake constitute one of the sites with major biological diversity for the Quaternary of the province of Córdoba. The known ones were named as Barrancas de Milanesi, Barrancas de Albarracin, Playa Grande and El Silencio, all of them are located in a sector of the southern arch of the lake. These have provided an abundant and diverse quantity of fossils, whose preliminary studies allow referring them to 12 extinct taxa and 4 to current representatives, which correspond mainly to mammals, some of singular paleoclirnatic importance. The taxa association corresponds to the Lujanense Mammal Age. The stratigraphic position and the characteristics of the fossiliferous levels allow referring them to the Tezanos Pinto Formation deposited during the Last Glacial Maximum (ca. 36-15 ka BP) and the cold and dry period of the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene (ca. 14-8 ka BP); during this time the lake suffered a large volume reduction. The aforementioned paleontological sites are on the coast of the lake, exposed to erosion, which periodically provides new materials but also contributes to its disappearance. The human alteration, which through the removal of materials without appropriate technologies and without a suitable control of the geographical or stratigraphic origin, determines the loss of their value as palaeoenvironmental indicators, therefore it is necessary to establish technical guidelines and specific legal limits to ensure their protection. As a property of cultural heritage, their legal protection at the provincial level is mainly covered by the terms of Act (Law) 5.543, terms to which can be added those of Natural Areas Law 6.964 and the Decree 3.215 of creation of the Natural Protected Area "Bañados del Rio Petri (Dulce) y Laguna Mar Chiquita (Laguna o Mar de Ansenuza)", although there is a lack of specific provincial legislation for the safeguarding of this heritage. It is therefore necessary to establish ordinances that contribute to the protection of these sites, as well as laws that declare them of provincial interest.