Pliocene marine Bivalvia of Vale do Freixo (Pombal, Portugal) : updated taxonomic list and discussion

The exceptional Pliocene marine faunal assemblages of west central Portugal have been known since the late 19th century. They include highly diverse molluscan faunas whose study is far to be completed. Discovered nearly 40 years ago, Vale do Freixo (Carnide, Pombal) is perhaps the most outstanding fossil site. Neverthless, the bivalves remain relatively unknown. This study focuses on the taxonomy of this relevant group of marine Mollusca. The research, based on a detailed sampling of three fossiliferous beds from the Carnide Formation, yielded a list of 85 species belonging to 75 genera and 32 families. Forty-three species are new for the Carnide area and twenty-three are reported for the first time in the Portuguese Pliocene, increasing to 115 the number of known species in the Mondego Basin in the Beira Litoral

Didáctica e possibilidades de divulgação do sítio paleontológico do Cretácico da Figueira da Foz (Portugal)

ABSTRACT: The sedimentary exposures and the palaeontological site of Figueira da Foz (Portugal) are located near the coastal town of the same name, in front of the Mondego river estuary, where a set of mid Cenomanian to lower Turonian (Upper Cretaceous) marine beds of the West Portuguese Carbonate Platform are recorded by the Costa d’Arnes Formation. The 65 meters thick of the stratigraphic succession holds several fossiliferous units with diverse ammonite species and other abundant benthic invertebrates with Tethyan affinities, quite accessible for outreach activities. This context allows to combine indoor and out-of school learning strategies along with diverse didactic methodologies, aiming to reach a meaningful learning by carrying out didactic activities at the site and other contemporary outcrops such as Tamajón (Spain). These initiatives will incentive positive Geoconservation attitudes towards Natural Heritage, by means of outreach and Geotouristic events at the Figueira da Foz site, and related museums and interpretation centres.RESUMO: Os afloramentos e o sítio paleontológico da Figueira da Foz (Portugal) localizam-se junto da cidade com o mesmo nome, em frente ao estuário do rio Mondego. Correspondem a uma sucessão de estratos marinhos do Cenomaniano médio a Turoniano inferior (Cretácico Superior) da Plataforma Carbonatada Ocidental Portuguesa, pertencente à Formação de Costa d’Arnes. Os 65 metros de espessura da sucessão estratigráfica contêm várias unidades fossilíferas com amonites e abundantes invertebrados bentónicos com afinidades tetisianas, bastante acessíveis para actividades de divulgação. Este contexto permite combinar estratégias de aprendizagem dentro e fora da escola, e diversas metodologias didácticas, para se alcançar uma aprendizagem significativa através da realização de actividades didácticas no geossítio e em outros afloramentos contemporâneos, como em Tamajón (Espanha). Estas iniciativas poderão motivar atitudes positivas de Geoconservação do Património Natural, se incluídas em eventos geoturísticos e de divulgação no geossítio da Figueira da Foz, em museus e em centros de interpretação.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Comodidade e modernidade

UID/HIS/04209/2013publishersversionpublishe

The Devonian fossil association from the location of Serra (Rates, Northwest Portugal) revisited: contribution for the geoheritage valuing of a classical area of the Iberian Palaeozoic

RESUMO: Neste trabalho efetuou-se o estudo de um sítio paleontológico no Devónico de Rates (Noroeste de Portugal), contendo uma fauna marinha composta por invertebrados típicos deste sistema. O afloramento encontra se 35 km a norte do Porto, inserido no prolongamento de unidades paleozoicas do Anticlinal de Valongo. Os níveis fossilíferos correspondem a xistos argilosos amarelos do “Membro Superior” da “Formação Telheiras” e apresentam uma associação paleontológica rica e diversificada, formada por corais, briozoários, braquiópodes, tentaculites, crinoides e trilobites, correlativa do Pragiano–Emsiano (Devónico inferior). Destaca-se o género Pleurodictyum, aqui representado por espécimes morfologicamente distintos da espécie-tipo P. problematicum, a qual tem vindo a ser identificada frequentemente em estudos anteriores. Com a inacessibilidade da maioria das jazidas clássicas do Devónico Inferior desta região, esta descoberta e revisão do conhecimento pretende valorizar o património geológico de uma das áreas clássicas do Paleozoico Ibérico, complementando o do Parque das Serras do Porto.ABSTRACT: A fossil site from the Devonian stratigraphic succession of Rates (Northwest of Portugal) was studied, being representative of a fauna of marine invertebrates typical of this System. The outcrop is located 35 km north of Oporto, an extension of the Palaeozoic units known from the Valongo Anticline. The studied unit consist of yellowish clayey schists belonging to the “upper Member” of the “Telheiras Formation”, yielding an abundant and diverse assemblage formed by corals, bryozoans, brachiopods, tentaculites, crinoids and trilobites, which is correlative of the Pragian–Emsian. The genus Pleurodictyum stands out, here represented through specimens morphologically distinctive of the type-species P. problematicum, frequently mentioned in previous studies on the Devonian of Portugal. With the inaccessibility of most of the Lower Devonian classic fossil localities in this region, this discovery and knowledge review aims to enhance the geological heritage of one of the classic areas of the Iberian Palaeozoic, complementing that one from the protected area of the “Parque das Serras do Porto”.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

cinco perguntas e um parecer

UID/HIS/04209/2013Em meados de 1900, perfilava-se a possibilidade dos Caminhos de Ferro do Estado virem a comprar carvão à mina do Cabo Mondego, dada a sua localização estratégica junto da Figueira da Foz. Esta cidade era servida por um porto marítimo e por dois dos grandes eixos ferroviários do país, ficando sensivelmente a meia distância das suas principais sedes de exploração: as linhas do “Minho e Douro” e as do “Sul e Sueste”. A proposta de contrato foi escrutinada pelos técnicos do Estado, que emitiram um parecer favorável. Todavia, a frágil situação financeira da empresa mineira não permitiu corresponder às condições contratadas com a Administração dos Caminhos de Ferro, apesar dos adiantamentos de capital que aquela lhe fizera nesse sentido. O arrastamento dos incumprimentos, bem como os contornos do negócio, tiveram um ponto final aquando da implantação do regime republicano. In the mid-1900s there was the possibility of the State Railways come to buy coal in the Cape Mondego mine, given its strategic location near Figueira da Foz. This city was served by a sea port and two of the major railways lines of the country. Besides, it was halfway of its main headquarters of exploitation: the railway lines of “Minho and Douro” and “South and Southeast”. The contract proposal was scrutinized by State technicians, who issued a favourable opinion. However, the fragile financial situation of the mining company did not allow to match the agreed conditions with the State Railways, despite capital advances already made to help the Company. The continued non-compliance, as well as the contours of the deal, had an end when the republican regime was deployed.publishersversionpublishe

The biota of the Upper Cretaceous site of Lo Hueco (Cuenca, Spain)

The Late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) fossil site of Lo Hueco was recently discovered close to the village of Fuentes (Cuenca, Spain) during the cutting of a little hill for installation of the railway of the Madrid-Levante high-speed train. To date, it has yielded a rich collection of well-preserved Cretaceous macrofossils, including plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. The recovered fossil assemblage is mainly composed of plants, molluscs (bivalves and gastropods), actinopterygians and teleosteans fishes, amphibians, panpleurodiran (bothremydids) and pancryptodiran turtles, squamate lizards, eusuchian crocodyliforms, rhabdodontid ornithopods, theropods (mainly dromaeosaurids), and titanosaur sauropods. This assemblage was deposited in a near-coast continental muddy floodplain crossed by distri-butary sandy channels, exposed intermittently to brackish or marine and freshwater flooding as well as to partial or total desiccation events