IPOLYTARNÓC TT
Guide booklets - 1.
GEOLOGICAL STUDY PATH
The geological study path of IPOLYTARNOC NATURE CONSERVATION AREA leads the visitor through from
the 24 million-year-old shallow sea sediments to the 19-20 million-year-old volcanoclastic rocks.
During the 800 m long guided round trip with the help of natural outcrops and excavations the visitor can meet the
Lower Miocene Age.
The tropical sea with its sharkteeth-bearing strata withdrew from the area some 21 - 20 million years ago. The mud
of the prehistoric river bank preserved the footprints of ancient creatures when hot volcanic ash-flow buried the
paleohabitat of Ipolytarnoc.
Because of the area's strict protection any disturbance of the exposures or collection of rocks, samples is
prohibited.
1. stop
The wall of the ravine is built up with the ooze of the Paratethys sea,which deposited to the 200 m deep
seafloor 23 - 24 million years ago . The sediment became clayish sandstone enriched by the minerals of
glaukonite. In front of the notice the coastal samples of the sharkteeth-bearing sandstone can be seen.
Shark carcasses were washed ashore by sea currents, and their teeth accumulated and fossilised in good
condition. (At the end of the trail, in the great conservation hall there is a small exhibition showing shark’
s teeth of the site.) The fossils of the exposed samples are the calcareous remains of solitary corrals, the
shells of gastropods and bivalves.
2. stop or while moving
The shale strata of the small waterfall are the proof of the deepening process of the ancient sea floor. The
Borokas brook has broken through the marly layers, which connect the sandstone with the shales. On the
surfaces of the samples, taken under the barrier of the staircase the whitish calcareous remnants of
molluscs can be seen.
3. stop
During the uplifting of the region the sea slowly withdrew from the area and some 21 Million years ago
gravel terraces were deposited by primeval rivers. On the small exposure the tectonic contact of the
greyish left-hand-sided sea beds and the right-hand-sided limonite- painted river sediments, divided by
fault line, can be seen.
4.stop New building
In front of the building:
The layer outcropping from under the building is the lithified riverside mud, the so called footprint
sandstone.The palaeosoil layer on its surface has preserved the footprints of ancient creatures .
The deep cut gravely sandstone, conglomerate bed on the right side identifies the current line of the
primeval river. On the right-hand-side of the trail, in the wall the volcanic catastrophe’s rhyolitic tuff,
interbeded charcoal plant remnants and a silicified tree log can be seen. According to radiometric
measurements the volcanic catastrophe destroyed the paleohabitat of Ipolytarnoc 19,6 Million years ago.
Inside the building:
The excavated surface, the morphology of the ancient watering place and ford can be seen with trace
fossils on it. Footprints of double hoofed animals, carnivores, birds and rhinoceros have petrified in the
mud with silicified tree remains.
5. stop or while moving
The left side of the study path is bordered by the rhyolitic tuff with charcoal remains of the ancient
vegetation. Under the volcanic strata there is the buried palaeosurface showing that the trail follows the
ancient river bank. On the right-hand-side at the bottom of the ravine a petrified tree log can be seen,
exposed by the brook itself from the old river sediments. Above it the pebbly cliff of the palaeocurrent
line and the section of the volcanic matter can be seen.
6. stop - Cellar
The silicified remnants of the Pinuxylon tarnocziense giant pine can be seen in two parts in their original
position .The estimated height of the tree was about 90 m. At the beginning of the XIX. century the giant
tree trunk still crossed the ravine as a stone bridge with its 42 m length exposed. The scientific
investigations of the area were started in 1836 by F. Kubinyi beside the tree. The tree's third part,
belonging to the crown, can be seen in the great hall. This part was only discovered in 1980, during the
construction of the hall. The quartz leached out from the volcanic matter and made the tree silicify. On the
wall there is a copy of the picture of K. Marko from 1840, showing the native surroundings of the tree of
that time.
On the right hand corner of the cellar there is the outcropping palaeosoil layer, and in the sidewalled
cuttings the rhyolitic tuff with burned plant remains can be seen.
7. stop - Great conservation hall
On the left-hand side of the hall there is an exhibition of the fossils from the site.
(Footprints, leaf imprints of the primeval rainforest, petrified tree remnants, shark teeth) One can see the
geological map of Hungary and of the site including the stratification column of Ipolytarnoc. Other
Hungarian sites with their own samples can be seen, too.
The inner side of the hall:
The background, behind the footprint sandstone, is dominated by R. Muray 's picture, painted as a
reconstruction of the paleohabitat of Ipolytarnoc.
The palaeosoil surface:
1. part
The uppermost footprint sandstone bed with the best quality trace fossils within the hall is exposed on the
top left-hand corner. Beside the rhinoceros one, small and medium - sized carnivores, the double hoofed
animals' footprints can be seen, too.
2.part
There is a trough - shaped depression in the middle being the bed of a tree log, next to it wallowing places
are, water shaped wavy surfaces are seen. The chiselled, missing parts of the footprint sandstone layers
were taken to museums before the start of the effective protection of the site.
3.part
Koprolite - dropping, ripple marks, resting places, footprints, leaf impressions, surfaces covered by plant
remnants, the crown (third) part of the giant pine of the cellar surrounded by smaller tree logs on each of
its sides can be seen. Amongst the rhino baby traces raindroplets and worm traces, crackings, above these
a sliding trace of an adolescent rhinoceros can be identified. The pebbly surface by the exit was the source
area of springs, at its foot the wallowing clay stripe was the mud having washed back to the shore line 20
million years ago.