Feature: Argentina's "Valley of the Moon", a sneak peek into world before Jurassic

The Argentina's Ischigualasto Provincial Park, known as "Valley of the Moon" in English, is among the South America nation's nine World Heritage Sites while being the world's only place where nearly all of the Triassic Period is represented.

Walking through Ischigualasto is like taking a step back in time on the same land where dinosaurs walked 180 million years ago.

Located in Argentina's northwestern San Juan province, the park enjoys extravagant rock formations and native flora and fauna, preserving the origins of the earth.

Having been sculpted by water, wind and the sun over the past millions of years, the moon-like ground and the individual landform in Ischigualasto make itself look like another plant.

As the world's only place representing nearly all of the Triassic Period (more than 250 million years ago), the park has an undisturbed sequence of rock deposits that witnessed the era of dinosaurs and giant reptiles.

In addition, an collision between an oceanic plate and the continent provoked the rise of the Andes mountain range, which was also converted into an open-air geological museum site that puts on show the oldest fossil remains in the world.

Covering a protected area of 60,000 hectares, the park has high geological and paleontological value for both purposes of sightseeing and scientific studies.

At the park's entrance, visitors can have access to information about the protected area to deepen their knowledge on the dinosaurs that once lived in this region before setting their feet on an adventurous trip.

It will take three hours for tourists to complete the 42-km-long main visiting circuit, along which visitors could enjoy the nature's masterpiece.

A new museum built around an excavation area was inaugurated last week in honor of U.S. paleontologist William Sill who pioneered the investigation in Ischigualasto.

Decades ago, William Sill lived in San Juan and got married with a local woman and then settled down there in 1969 as he was attracted by the incredible abundance of fossils at Ischigualasto.

During Argentina's military dictatorship in the 1970s, the paleontologist had to flee from the place after helping a score of his students from the University of San Juan escape.

Sill returned to San Juan in 2000 and thanks to his management, the Ischigualasto Provincial Park was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the same year.

No longer able to visit Ischigualasto due to his deteriorating health, Sill decided to move with his family back to the United States in 2003. He died there five years later and the ashes of his heart are now held at the park as the paleontologist's dying wish. Endi