Versteinerte Pflanzen
Kuba, Provinz Camagüey, "Bosque Fósil de Najasa"
English Abstract
The described "Bosque Fósil de Najasa" ("Najasa Fossil Forest") ist situated in south central Cuba, in Camagüey Province, at the southern margin of the Sierra del Chorillo, a rolling landscape affected by volcanic activity. The government of Cuba declared the "Bosque Fósil de Najasa" as a protected area and in 2001 as a national monument. The fossil forest takes up an area of 3,5 km by 3,0 km. The fossil forest consists of these four main deposits ("Yakimientos"):
"Yakimiento San José"
"Yakimiento Santa Rosa"
"Yakimiento La Estrella"
"Yakimiento Las Clotildas".
Most common are 10 cm to 70 cm long, grey, yellowish, reddish or brownisch segments of silicified trunks and branches of Angiosperms and Gymnosperms with 5 cm to 80 cm in diameter. Rare to find are silicified Palms (trunk segments and root bales of Palms). Specialities are silicified, white to light blue, hornlike axes/rhizoms of monocots, cycads and silicified corals. All plant remains are embedded in light grey to light brown, igneoaqueous silty sandstones. Galtes, (1887) and Hollick (1924) postulated an eocene to miocene age of the "Najasa Fossil Forest".