Location: 104 mi (167 km) Southeast of San Juan, San Luis Province Map
Area: 150,000 hectares
Open: 8am- 9pm daily
Info: San Luis
Tel. (02652) 445 141
Official site
Sierra de las Quijadas National Park is located 104 mi (167 km)
Southeast of San Juan, San Luis Province in Argentina. Sierra de las
Quijadas National Park covers a total area of 150,000 hectares and
it was established in 1991. Sierra de las Quijadas National Park is
famous for paleontological digs and discovered fossils of dinosaurs
that date back 120 million years ago to the Jurassic period.
Paleontologists discovered two species of pterosaurs or winged
lizards that once flew over ancien seas.
The vegetation is
sparse in the region, yet it provides enough food for a diverse
ecosystem. While hiking in Sierra de las Quijadas National Park you
can encounter ostrich, guanaco, peccary, Argentine puma, mora eagle
(Harpyhaliaetus coronatus) fox, cougar, bobcat as well as
magnificent Andean condors that fly high above Andes mountains in
their hunt for small rodents on the ground.
The national park was created to protect the species that inhabit the
place and to conserve representative environments of the ecoregions of
the mountain of plains and plateaus, of the mountain of mountains and
pockets and of the arid chaco, in addition to preserving its
archaeological and paleontological sites.
In the park, the
“Potrero de la Aguada” stands out, a micro-basin that converges in a low
area, where the river with the same name is born, which only runs
through the place in the rainy season. In the rest of the year, its
course only presents sand and rocks.
The cliffs, with their
cliffs, cornices and terraces, have a reddish color. Barely covered with
vegetation, they delimit an immense natural amphitheater.
The
vegetation is scarce, jarillas and cacti abound. There are also white
quebrachos and typical plants of the area, such as the Quijadas zampa.
Although the area is very arid, it has an abundant fauna: Argentine
cougar, wild cat, gray fox and mara are the most common mammals. Among
the birds, the rhea, the gray falcon, the black-chested eagle
(Harpyhaliaetus coronatus), and the Andean condor stand out.
To
the west of the Sierra de las Quijadas runs the Desaguadero River, which
has created a large flood plain in which there are small forests of
chañar and plants that tolerate salty environments (halophytes).
The area is also the habitat of the guanaco, the collared peccary, and
the palos rabbit. In addition, the fauna of the park contains several
species that require protection measures, such as the Chaco tortoise,
the peregrine falcon, the solitary crowned eagle, the lesser pichiciego,
the yellow cardinal, the mountain goldfinch and the large queenberry.
Fossil remains of two species of pterosaurs or winged lizards have
been found in the Sierra de las Quijadas. One of them has a peculiar
dentition, with beards that formed a kind of basket, which served to
retain the microorganisms on which it fed by filtering water.
The
water courses are temporary, depending on the rains mainly in summer,
and run to the main collector of the system, which is the Seco de la
Aguada River or Torrente de la Aguada. In the western limit of the park,
the Desaguadero River stands out, which has its origin in the Guanacache
lagoon complex, due to the contributions mainly from the San Juan River,
then the Mendoza and finally the Bermejo.
The climate is very
arid continental, with a marked thermal amplitude, both seasonal and
daily.
The park has numerous evidence of ancient human occupation,
particularly in the foothills of the mountains. A few km from the
entrance is a large archaeological site characterized by the location of
more than twenty stoves or jars within the perimeter of a large
indigenous settlement of Huarpes.
The studies that were carried
out indicate that these kilns probably would have worked for the
production of ceramic pieces that, judging by the fragments found,
present excellent technical manufacturing conditions. It is a gray
ceramic, with thin walls and even firing, with incised-type decoration
on a double perimeter line. One of the stoves is conditioned for public
visits, with the assistance of authorized guides.
Management
By resolution No. 126/2011 of the National Parks Administration of May
19, 2011, it was established that the national park would be classified
for administrative purposes in the category protected areas of
complexity III, for which it is headed by a designated intendant, On
which 4 departments depend (Administration; Works and Maintenance;
National Park Rangers; Conservation and Public Use) and the Dispatch and
Entry, Exit, and Notifications Division. The Intendancy has its
headquarters in the city of San Luis.