Monte San Giorgio

World Heritage

Italy

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Monte San Giorgio, a pyramid-shaped wooded mountain beside Lake Lugano, is considered the best fossil record of marine life from the Triassic period (245 to 230 million years ago). The sequence records life in a tropical lagoon environment, sheltered by offshore coral reefs and partially separated from the open sea. A wide variety of marine life thrived in this lagoon, including reptiles, fish, bivalves, ammonites, echinoderms and crustaceans. Due to the lagoon's proximity to land, the remains also include terrestrial reptiles, insects and plant fossils, making the fossil source extremely rich.