Cernegura fossiliferous site is a protected area of national interest that corresponds to the fourth category IUCN (paleontological nature reserve) located in Neamț county, on the administrative territory of the city of Piatra Neamț.
The natural area is located in the southeastern part of the city of Piatra Neamţ, to the right of the river Bistriţa on one of the slopes of the Cernegura hill (852 m altitude).
The geographical area - covering an area of 198.20 hectares - was located in Oligocene at the bottom of the Paratethys Sea.
It represents an area of paleontological interest - in this case a hilly area with deposits of fossiliferous remains of fish and shells characteristic of areas with a subtropical climate, attributed to the Oligocene period - deposited in sedimentary rocks consisting of sandstone and marl.
The fossiliferous geological context consists of approximately 100 m thick soft rock piles formed in the depths of the Paratethys Sea. A peculiarity of this would determine the preservation in the sediment layers of the bodies of dead animals. Thus, unlike other seas and oceans, due to the peculiarities of the Paratethys submarine relief, it does not benefit from the existence of an efficient circuit of oxygenation of the deep water layers. In the absence of oxygen, the microorganisms that decompose the bodies were lacking, in the absence of biological processes of decomposition the respective organic matter starting on the long physico-chemical path, at the end of which is the oil. This transformation in the fossiliferous zones was blocked in an early phase. Sieved very finely, the sediments were deposited on the bodies of the beings, generating a special rock that unfolds beneath the edge of the geological hammer in thin sheets - like the sheets of a book.