Relevancia científica del Bajo de Santa Rosa y Salinas de Trapalcó (Río Negro ? Argentina) en el contexto del paleoturismo.

MASTROCOLA, Y.; SALGADO, L.; CASADÍO, S.

Neuquén

Jornada; VII Simposio Internacional y XII Jornadas Nacionales de Investigación - Acción en Turismo CONDET; 2015

Facultad de Turismo de la Universidad Nacional del Comahue

100 km to the South West from Lamarque (Río Negro-Argentina), in the surrounding area to the Bajo Santa Rosa and Salinas de Trapalcó, there are fossiliferous deposits of great wealth that give to the region a high potential to make geopaleontological researches. Scientific works have allowed increasing a diversifying the paleontological record of the Rio Negro province, which is also of interest to the tourism. In the area, a succession of Upper Cretaceous rocks and sediments are exposed, which includes a lower continental unit (the Allen Formation) and an upper marine unit (the Jagüel Formation). That succession has provided a carnivorous dinosaur, an herbivorous one, dinosaur eggs, and important remains of marine reptiles, among other materials. This work proposes to analyze the scientific relevancy of Bajo Santa Rosa and Salinas de Trapalcó localities in the context of the paleontological tourism, considering it as a centered method on the use of paleontological, geological heritage and the landscape environment of a region. As for the methodological aspects, a bibliographical review was carried out from national and international publications and interviews with members of the scientific community related to research projects in the area of study. In addition, a field survey to identify sites of interest for visitors considering the fossil record, accessibility and environmental characteristics from a scientific, didactic and tourist approach was made. The results allow to identify geosites in which geological events can be understood and to know about aspects of the marine and continental biodiversity of the past, among which highlights the Cerro Bonaparte, Cerro Tortugas, Cerro El Matuasto and Cerro Dos Hermanas. The activation of these geosites from an interpretative tour, and the guided visits in the Paleontological Museum of Lamarque, in which fossil are exhibited, allow the maximum use of them to offer interesting alternatives in the paleontological context of tourism.