Buried in History

Some of Europe’s richest fossil deposits

—as well as the Can Mata landfill—can

be found in Catalonia’s Vallès-Penedès

Basin. For millions of years during the

Miocene epoch, an active fault caused

the basin to sink steadily, providing a

constantly growing reservoir for

animal remains. Sediment flowing off

the Prelittoral Range then buried the

bones in mud and silt, preserving

them for millennia.

Rosemary Wardley, NGM Staff

Sources: David M. Alba and Isaac

Casanovas-Vilar, Catalan Institute of

Paleontology Miquel Crusafont; EU-DEM

Buried in History

Some of Europe’s richest fossil deposits—as well as the Can Mata landfill—can

be found in Catalonia’s Vallès-Penedès Basin. For millions of years during the

Miocene epoch, an active fault caused the basin to sink steadily, providing a

constantly growing reservoir for animal remains. Sediment flowing off the

Prelittoral Range then buried the bones in mud and silt, preserving

them for millennia.

Rosemary Wardley, NGM Staff

Sources: David M. Alba and Isaac Casanovas-Vilar, Catalan Institute of Paleontology

Miquel Crusafont; EU-DEM