Since the middle of the 20th century, there has been a slate extraction from the fossil site commonly known as the “Pedreira do Valério” (Valério’s quarry), with the objective of transforming and using it in the construction industry. These slates brought to light an important fauna of invertebrate fossils composed by trilobites, bivalves, rostroconchia, gastropods, cephalopods, brachiopods, echinoderms, hyolithids, conulariida, ostracod, graptolites and ichnofossils, initially interpreted as “animals from the flood period”, but today we know they were beings that inhabited the banks of the Gondwana paleocontinent, at about 465 million years ago (Darriwiliano – medium Ordovician). Nowadays, we know that the palaeontology record of the trilobites found in this quarry is important not only for the big size of several species, but also for its high preservation level. Thus, from the taphonomic and palaeoenvironmental point of view, the protected and dysaerobic environment helped the preservation of articulated exuviae near entire carcasses of some trilobite species that lived in the limit of their life capabilities. Many of these fossils have helped to complete the understanding of some taxons and also highlight new species. The biggest contribute of this quarry at a trilobites biology level consists in the discovery of mono and pluri-specific kinds of Ogyginus, Asaphellus, Ectillaenus, Bathycheilus, Salerocoryphe, Placoparia and Retamapis. The concentration in small group spaces in similar ontogenetic stage is interpreted as a proof of the gregarious behavior adopted by many trilobites during the shedding or reproduction. In the surroundings of this quarry there is, since July 1, 2006, the Geological Interpretative Center of Canelas that gathers some of the most notable fossils samples found, and it is one of the most important geosites of the Arouca Geopark.
Location: Arouca
Location: Arouca
