Guillermo Baltazar Chong Díaz is a Chilean geologist and professor at the

Catholic University of the North Catholic University of the North ( Spanish: ''Universidad Católica del Norte'' (UCN)) is a university in Chile. It is part of the Chilean Traditional Universities. It is located in Antofagasta, Chile. The Catholic University of the North was ...

Antofagasta Antofagasta () is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2015 census, the city has a population of 402,669. After the Spanish American ...

, Chile. In 2018 he was named distinguished son ( es, hijo ilustre) of

Arica Arica ( ; ) is a commune and a port city with a population of 222,619 in the Arica Province of northern Chile's Arica y Parinacota Region. It is Chile's northernmost city, being located only south of the border with Peru. The city is the cap ...

. The mineral chongite is named after him. In 2011, together with

Zulma Brandoni de Gasparini Zulma Nélida Brandoni de Gasparini (born 15 May 1944) is an Argentinian paleontologist and zoologist. She is known for discovering the fossils of the dinosaur ''Gasparinisaura'', which was named after her. Work Born in the city of La Plata, A ...

and others, Chong Díaz discovered a well-preserved fossilized skull of the family

Metriorhynchidae Metriorhynchidae is an extinct family of specialized, aquatic metriorhynchoid crocodyliforms from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous period (Bajocian to early Aptian) of Europe, North America and South America. The name Metriorhynchi ...

. The team determined it to be a specimen of Metriorhynchus westermanni, an extinct marine

crocodyliform Crocodyliformes is a clade of crurotarsan archosaurs, the group often traditionally referred to as "crocodilians". They are the first members of Crocodylomorpha to possess many of the features that define later relatives. They are the only ps ...

References

People from Arica Catholic University of the North faculty 21st-century Chilean geologists Chilean people of Chinese descent Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Paleontologists {{paleontologist-stub