Paleontological Heritage

*** En Las Águilas, yacimiento paleontológico ubicado en Coahuila, se construye un centro de interpretación para visitantes, un jardín botánico y áreas de servicio

*** Se trata de un sitio donde el INAH ha descubierto y registrado 207 huellas de dinosaurios fosilizadas, con una antigüedad de 72 millones de años



Las Águilas, un yacimiento paleontológico de Coahuila donde se descubrieron 207 huellas de dinosaurios fosilizadas de 72 millones de años de antigüedad, cambia de rostro. Luego de constates trabajos del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) para habilitarlo a la visita pública, las obras tienen un avance de 30 por ciento, reflejado en la construcción del inmueble que albergará un centro de interpretación, la creación de un jardín botánico y áreas de servicio.

Las siluetas de las dos especies de dinosaurios descubiertas ahí, dan la bienvenida al sitio ubicado en el municipio de General Cepeda, donde desde hace seis años el INAH desarrolla conjuntamente con las comunidades del Ejido de Porvenir de Jalpa —donde se encuentra Las Águilas--, un proyecto de gestión del lugar bajo custodia de los miembros de la propia localidad.

La paleontóloga Felisa Aguilar, responsable del yacimiento, informó que se trata de un esquema que además de desarrollar la investigación y conservación del sitio, permita crear las condiciones necesarias para la atención de visitantes.

Help us to put the 1 million years old fossil skull of an elephant on show to the public, in the Paleontological Museum of Montevarchi (AR). Only 7 days remaining to reach the goal...

In the autumn of 2016, two hunters notice a pair of elephant tusks surfacing from the earth, in the area of Tasso in Terranuova Bracciolini (AR)
They are the remains of a Mammuthus meridionalis, a species of elephant that lived in the Upper Valdarno when the environment was similar to the African savanna of today. The discovery called for a paleontological excavation and the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio delle Provincie di Siena, Grosseto e Arezzo prepared for it, with the help of the Faculty of Scienze della Terra of the University of Florence and the Paleontological Museum of Montevarchi.
At the end of May 2017, the paleontological excavation begins, with the collaboration of palaeontologists, archaeologists, geologists, restorers and photographers: courageous and tight-knit teamwork, that challenges a savanna-like climate!
After two months of digging a skull comes to light, with its tusks, and an elephant's ulna, together with fragments of Equidae's teeth and the shoulder blade of a Cervidae: all remains just over 1.6 million years ago.
In September 2017 the fossil is moved into a restoration laboratory in San Giovanni Valdarno. The laboratory is the destination of guided tours of visitors and schools. In few months, more than a thousand visitors came to the laboratory.
Finally in July 2018, with delicate and very demanding operations, the fossil is moved into the Paleontological Museum in Montevarchi; there the restoration continues.
The planning is involving different groups of people: everybody is called to put forward ideas and suggestions.

Your contribution will be fundamental to put on show the new fossil: it will be the result of a journey made with many people, including you!

All the amber outcrops of the Iberian Peninsula are Lower Cretaceous in age and, in the case of Spain, some of them have provided important arthropod specimens preserved as bioinclusions. These Spanish localities are rich in fossil taxa of phyloge-netic relevance and evidence of both paleoecological interactions and paleobehaviors are also abundant. Despite their high heritage interest, the actions conducted to their protection and management have been very unequal. In some cases, only the generic laws of national or autonomous scopes protect this heritage. In this paper, the state of the art of the Iberian Peninsula amber outcrops and a review of the major Cretaceous amber outcrops worldwide for comparison are presented. That comparison shows, in general, that the best protection, both legal and physical, occurs in Spain and that the case of Portugal is very different. In addition, some actions aimed at a more effective protection and management of the amber outcrops in Spain and Portugal are proposed, for example the proposal to consider the San Just outcrop, located in the Aragonese Community, under a protection designation as is the so called Bien de Interés Cultural.

Al principi fou Xert. Una visió històrica sobre la paleontologia de Xert. Es fa una introducció a la geologia del terme municipal de Xert en el marc geològic regionali dins la conca sedimentària del Maestrat. Es fa una recopilació, des del 1859 al 30/06/2016, de totes les espècies noves que s’han descrit amb fòssils de Xert. De cada espècie s’aporten tots el registres i totes les cites bibliogràfiques; s’informa de l’estat de conservació dels holotips i s’apunten els estudis específics que caldria encetar.

Al principio fue Xert. Una visión histórica sobre la paleontologia de Xert. Se realiza una introducción a la geología del término municipal de Xert en el marco geológico regional y dentro de la cuenca sedimentaria del Maestrat. Se realiza una recopilación, desde 1859 al 30/06/2016, de todas las especies nuevas que se han descrito con fósiles de Xert. De cada especie se aportan todos los registros y las citas bibliográficas; se
informa del estado de conservación de los holotipos y se apuntan los estudios específicos que se deberían iniciar.

ABSTRACT
In the beginning there was Xert. A historical perspective on  palaeontology of Xert.
An introduction to the geology of the municipality of Xert under a regional geological framework and within the sedimentary Maestrat basin. A compilation, from 1859 to 30/06/2016, of all the new fossil species that have been described from Xert are given.
For each species, all records and all citations are provided; reports on the state of conservation of holotypes and targeted specific studies that should be initiated.

This book addresses one of the strategies to popularize the geological evolution of Porto Santo island (Madeira Archipelago) in the context of its future geopark. The idea of comparing the evolutionary stages of a volcanic island with the main stages of development of a person emerged from the scientific activities held in Porto Santo since 1999, in the context of the Summer Geology program, sponsored by the Ciência Viva Agency in partnership with the Universities of Madeira
(Centre for Macaronesian Studies) and of Lisbon (Lisbon University Geology Centre), represented respectively by our colleagues Domingos Rodrigues and Carlos Marques da Silva.
This initiative is part of the final celebrations of the International Year of Planet Earth, with institutional support from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), through its AIPT 2008 National Committee (www.progeo.pt/aipt). At the same time, it is one of the first initiatives undertaken in the context of the future Porto Santo Geopark. Geoparks are already a reality in our country with two excellent examples: Naturtejo and Arouca. Both are part of the European Network of Geoparks, and are recognized by UNESCO for the excellence of their activities in disseminating knowledge of natural heritage in general and geology in particular.
For it is essential that people get to know and take pride in nature and the geological heritage, in which they are privileged to live, that being the only way actively and effectively to preserve it.
Comparing an island with a person (in this instance a woman), enables a human time-scale to be applied to the vast and varied range of geological processes that have taken place in Porto Santo, and can be observed and interpreted by reading the alphabet in which the history of the Earth is written, namely the rocks.
To make everyone, young and not so young alike, aware of this heritage is one of the purposes of this book. That is why there are two texts, the first specifically for children followed by another specially aimed at teenagers and adults.
We hope that this book will, on the other hand, appeal to younger readers, awakening them from an early age to the interpretation of landscapes and to the preservation of the natural heritage and, on the other, will show how geoscientists observe and interpret landscapes, outcrops and
rocks.
Porto Santo, May 3, 2009
Mário Cachão & Vanda Dias

This paper presents an analysis of two conservation aspects related to the risk of degradation affecting several dinosaur ichnite sites in La Rioja, namely the anthropic vulnerability of these sites and the impact of the infrastructures and elements used to enhance the value of some of them. In the case presented, anthropic vulnerability is linked to the construction of large infrastructures, to land uses implemented by the local population and, particularly, to the different activities derived from scientific study of the sites and tourism. The alterations caused by infrastructures, buildings and elements used to adapt the sites for tourism have a direct impact on the value of the sites themselves. Consequently, and given their economic value, their degradation must be taken into account in the planning and decision-making processes involved in the management of this paleontological heritage.

This paper presents an analysis of two conservation aspects related to the risk of degradation of several dinosaur ichnite sites in La Rioja, namely fragility and natural vulnerability. Although the sites studied are classified into a number of different categories, most of them present a similar medium to high degree of fragility. Natural vulnerability, which is occasionally high, is due both to low-impact geological factors, mainly water and gravity, and biological factors, mainly vegetation. Both the fragility and the natural vulnerability of these sites, many of which present significant degradation on a human time scale, must be taken into account in the management of this geological heritage.