Reserva San Nicolás
Reserva San Nicolás is on the outer edge of a large crater known as the Chicxulub Impact Crater. The crater is the result of a collision approximately 66.5 million years ago with an asteroid of at least 6 kilometers in diameter, known as the Chicxulub or K-T Impactor. The site of impact, at the center of the crater, is just off the northern coast of the peninsula, near the village of Chiculub Puerto
About the Reserva San Nicolás
Reserva San Nicolás includes tall-stature seasonally dry tropical forest. Tall, old trees dominate this community, including species that are rare in younger forests. Tall-stature forest is rare because much of the Yucatán peninsula was deforested in the last 400 years for timber harvest and to make way for agriculture production. It can take several hundred years for a forest to recover from cutting. Tall-stature seasonally dry tropical forest also requires specific types of old, relatively nutrient rich soil in which to thrive. This kind of soil is not found in the more coastal parts of the peninsula or in areas that have been intensively farmed.
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About the Reserva San Nicolás
On the fringes of Reserva San Nicolas there is land that was recently used for agriculture but has been abandoned due to economic factors or the regulations of the reserve. This land does not have trees and is generally dominated by dense vines and shrubs. Much of this land shows signs of severe soil erosion due to the lack of plant cover, plowing, and animals.The Yucatán peninsula, including the land comprising Reserva San Nicolás, has a long history of human occupation. Approximately 175 kilometeres away, in the submerged cave of Hoyo Negro, the oldest human remains in the Americas were discovered. This find indicates that human inhabitiation of the region goes back well over 12,000 years. While much is still unknown about this find and the earliest people who inhabited the Americas, the more recent history of the Maya and European colonists, is a subject that has long fascinated Archaeologists.
