Around 235 million years ago, in what is now central Asia, a small reptile fell into a freshwater lake and settled in the soft mud at the bottom. The creature – named Longisquama, meaning “long scales”, after the strange, feather-like protrusions on its back – probably lived in a nearby forest with a host of other curious animals, including a flying reptile known as Sharovipteryx and Gigatitan, a giant mantis-like insect.
As the Longisquama‘s body slowly decayed and gradually turned to stone, continents drifted and the landscape above changed, with the lake drying up and reforming numerous times. Then, in the 1960s, Soviet palaeontologist Aleksandr Sharov found the fossilised reptile and on this little-known corner of the USSR.
Today, the region is in southern Kyrgyzstan, a dusty landscape of colourful rock outcrops and dry riverbeds framed by the snow-capped peaks of the Turkestan range. These rocks, remnants of the layers of mud and silt deposited on the lake bed on which Longisquama came to rest, are called the Madygen formation, after a nearby village. Palaeontologists recognise it as and a – a site with – but few other people have heard of Madygen.
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That looks set to change. If all goes to plan, this year the region will become a Global Geopark, the first in central Asia. As well as showcasing this natural wonder, the designation will help prevent it being despoiled by mining. It will also give an economic and political boost to Kyrgyzstan, a nation that has faced many challenges since it achieved independence from the USSR over three decades ago.
With undulating waves of red, yellow and white rocks that stand out like a scar in the desert, the Madygen formation is visually striking. But it is just part of a proposed park, also called Madygen, which will cover 50 hectares and more than stretching back to the Cambrian explosion, when there was a massive increase in the diversity of animal life. Once a shallow sea, the layers of fossilised sand and marine life were about 250 million years ago, when the ancient continent of Cimmeria migrated from the supercontinent of Gondwana to Eurasia. Then, melting water from the surrounding glaciers formed rivers that emptied out into a floodplain bounded by forest. This eventually created a lake that became the base of the Madygen formation – and it was a lack of oxygen in the lake bed that provided such perfect conditions for fossilisation.
“It is a locality where you have a window into a distant time frame, where you have the opportunity to study different groups of animals and plants – not just individual specimens, but the system as a whole,” says at the Museum of Natural History Chemnitz in Germany. This means it could shed light on some big questions in evolution, including the , the worst of Earth’s mass extinction events, which happened about 250 million years ago and eliminated 90 per cent of all species.
Working with an international team that includes scientists from Germany, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Russia and Kyrgyzstan, Kogan is studying the vertebrates found in Madygen. They range from the weird – such as Longisquama, which predates the dinosaurs and was once thought to be the missing link between reptiles and birds – to the unexpected, like , fish found only in the deep ocean today. Madygen also boasts one of the world’s – the geological time period that includes the Jurassic and Triassic. Insects are notoriously unlikely to fossilise because they are so delicate, but more than 500 species have been found here. Other researchers have pieced together the history of the area’s varied plant life, from trees to aquatic mosses; examined fossilised teeth and eggs from freshwater sharks that swam in Madygen’s ancient lake; and documented eels, molluscs and microscopic organisms called foraminifera that thrived in a
Despite this bounty, many local people were unaware of Madygen’s scientific importance until quite recently. “I was born and raised here, and I didn’t think there was anything to see in these hills,” says Kenesh Salyhov, a community leader from the nearby village of Samarkandyk. He changed his mind in 2021, when an academic conference brought researchers from around the world to Madygen. “I saw that they were all in awe of this park,” he says. That helped Salyhov realise that the site is special. Now, he is spearheading efforts to protect the area. Top of the list is to get Madygen recognised as a Global Geopark.
What is a Geopark?
Geoparks are areas of “international geological significance” designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and managed by communities to help preserve their distinct landscapes while developing the local economy. Less well-known than UNESCO’s two other designations – World Heritage Sites and Biosphere Reserves, which preserve cultural and biological diversity respectively – Global Geoparks are nevertheless gaining popularity as awareness grows about their potential to draw in scientists and tourists eager to glimpse rare fossils and rock formations. in 48 countries, but none yet in central Asia. Salyhov submitted the application for Madygen late last year, and he hopes to receive a decision sometime in 2024.
Madygen has also been proposed as a potential site for a , or “golden spike”, a reference point for the boundary between two geological time periods, because it has one of the most clearly visible boundaries between the and about 315 million years ago during the Carboniferous Period. There are some , used by geologists as reference points to study and date other rock formations. But the International Union of Geological Sciences, which makes these designations, is also considering the That adds a political dimension to the decision, says Kogan. Kyrgyzstan has, in recent years, tried to more strongly assert its independence from its larger neighbour, which it relies on for economic support and scientific collaboration.
The bid for Geopark designation has been several years in the making. Madygen’s remote location and limited services have meant that few people even know the place exists, let alone why it needs protecting. Yet, to be recognised by UNESCO, a site must have tourist infrastructure, including trails, information signage and places to stay nearby. A lack of funding has been the main obstacle to such developments. The Kyrgyz government has shown interest in subsidising the park, but has been slow to act. So Salyhov and park staff have fulfilled these requirements entirely with volunteer labour and money from donors.
UNESCO also looks for Geoparks to serve an educational purpose. To this end, the team behind the bid has set up a summer school in Madygen, which sees scientists and students from across Europe and central Asia visiting each August. This gives them an opportunity to gather fossils and rock specimens, says Kogan, and it helps train the next generation of researchers, including students from Kyrgyzstan, where geology departments are chronically underfunded. Research trips during the summer school have already made some significant discoveries. They have uncovered fossils of actinopterygians, or ray-finned fish, and formations from the Cretaceous Period that appear to be crayfish burrows. Isotopic analysis of shark teeth from Madygen shows that they lived in extremely fresh water, lending further support to the idea that the lake was glacier-fed.
Environmental benefits
Along with the scientific discoveries, these developments have helped attract tourists, although they are still mostly from neighbouring Uzbekistan and Russia. But designating Madygen as a Global Geopark would bring other potential benefits, including environmental ones. The Batken region, where the proposed Geopark is located, is the poorest part of Kyrgyzstan and relies heavily on damaging extractive industries like mining. Madygen contains valuable , a commodity that is already . There is also brown coal, an especially polluting fuel, which many particularly with the recent spike in electricity and gas prices. More tourism would provide residents with a sustainable source of income while preserving Madygen’s unique geology from the destruction that comes with mining, says Salyhov.
Another potential benefit is geopolitical. Parts of the Madygen formation extend into Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, but borders aren’t always clearly defined and relations between these neighbouring nations have been tense lately, most recently escalating into military in 2021 and 2022. The creation of a Geopark could encourage cross-border collaboration – and there are even bigger plans in the pipeline. Discussions are under way to establish a string of Geoparks around central Asia, says , a geologist who runs a working with the Kyrgyz government to apply for Global Geopark status in Madygen.
While they await a response from UNESCO, scientific progress continues. There is still much to be discovered, including the exact timeline of the Madygen formation. Researchers are trying to figure out exactly how many times a lake formed there during the mid-to-late Triassic and how long it lasted before drying up. They also want to better understand the climate of the region over geological time. This can be done using chemical analysis of the rocks, says Kogan.
With more fossils, researchers could paint a clearer picture of the local environment during the Triassic and into the Jurassic. However, many of the most important fossils found in Madygen over the past century are stored at the Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, and since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, scientists are either
Despite these challenges, those pushing for Geopark status are eager to collaborate with the scientific community. Salyhov believes that the more research done at Madygen, the greater the likelihood it will receive a UNESCO designation. That, in turn, will be an important step towards reducing poverty and providing opportunities for people in his community. “Jobs will help provide for the people – they will lead tours, run guesthouses,” he says. “The tourists go to the mountains right now, but we will draw them here, to Madygen.”
Diana Kruzman is a freelance journalist covering science and the environment. She was based in central Asia in 2023
