Uber Sized Permian Fossil Beds Outside Las Cruces?

There's more to the Robledo Mountains than meets the eye — much, much more.

Long buried under the mountains lies a petrified forest that holds clues to the forest, swamps and critters that roamed them close to 300 million years ago.

City officials are expected to announce Friday the discovery of petrified forests near the proposed Prehistoric Trackways National Monument in the Robledos. The find, credited to amateur paleontologist Jerry MacDonald of Las Cruces, could represent one of the largest and best deposits of petrified forest from the early Permian era — roughly 300 million years ago

"This is a huge find," said Spencer Lucas, interim executive director of the Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque. "It's probably the single biggest accumulation of logs we know of. This is the most significant fossil wood find from the Permian era in New Mexico in at least a century."

[...]

The wood is likely driftwood that accumulated and was fossilized in and around the Robledos. And the logs are superior because they preserve microscopic cell structure that will allow scientists to better understand the forest that once existed in the area.

"Before these logs were found, we knew about the footprints," he said. "Now what you're getting is a more complete picture of that ecosystem."

Will Picknor, director of museums for the City of Las Cruces, said the discovery of a petrified forest could "dwarf" Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.

(0.o)!!!

damjit. I lived right next to this and never went fossil hunting the area. I was too absorbed in other stuff at the time. Geez. Dumbdumbdumb. Don't ever put the things ya love on the backburner. Sheesh.

Let's see what they announce later today. Maybe.