#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The issue of creating a paleontological park in Norilsk was discussed at the last meeting of the Russian Geographical Society’s Norilsk branch activists.
Joint negotiations with the Taimyr Reserves directorate and the Polar State University led enthusiasts to the decision to present the project of the paleontological park to the Norilsk head in the near future.
The coal deposit in the Yergalah region is an outcrop of the Silurian geological period, about 350 million years old. The visitors of this place can see the real bottom of the ancient ocean, which in Taimyr can still be seen only in the area of the Ayakli river and nowhere else in Siberia. According to geologists, many years ago a certain geological cataclysm occurred there, after which the water washed away the rock and exposed the fossil deposits.
In the latest Norilsk history, the territory was practically inaccessible to outsiders for a long time due to the high gas contamination. Now this geographical point should be developed. According to the members of the Norilsk branch of the Russian Geographical Society, such a unique historical place cannot be ignored. It has every chance of becoming a natural monument of regional importance and worthy of mandatory demonstration to the masses.
“I had negotiations with the Darwin Museum, the Paleontological Faculty of MGIMO – they all confirmed the uniqueness of our deposit and the readiness to conduct research next year to prepare materials for a grant. At the Natural Resources Ministry’s next meeting, scientists promised to present our territory and find a curator for the project”, says Anastasia Korol, head of the local branch of the Russian Geographical Society.
The park’s location and exact boundaries will be further clarified and detailed. Among the Norilsk teachers there are those who have experience in conducting paleontological excursions for schoolchildren in Krasnoyarsk.
An archaeological expedition with a specialist paleontologist has already been carried out on the Rybnaya river as part of the Taimyr Explorers Club program. All the prerequisites and opportunities to show the history and uniqueness of the Earth on the territory of Norilsk are available.
Earlier, we reported that fragments of cephalopods from the Mesozoic era are still found in Taimyr. Such finds prove that once there were seas on the territory of our peninsula.
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Text: Denis Kozhevnikov, Photos: Nikolay Shchipko and Denis Kozhevnikov
