Avelino's Quarry Natural Monument

Category: Culture and Entertainment > Tourist Attraction

District: Setúbal > Sesimbra > Zambujal de Cima > Zambujal

Location

The Monumento Natural da Pedreira do Avelino is located in the Zambujal area, which is part of the locality of Zambujal de Cima, in the municipality of Sesimbra. Although situated in an area with some urbanization, this site preserves a geological record of remarkable value, accessible to those seeking a connection with the region's natural history.

A Legacy of Prehistory

This natural monument is a vast testament to a distant era, revealing dozens of fossilized dinosaur footprints. More than 150 million years old, these marks primarily belong to sauropods, large quadrupedal herbivores, recognized for their long necks and tails. Their presence recalls a time when the coastal landscape of Sesimbra was inhabited by these colossal creatures.

The Formation of the Footprints

The visible footprints were imprinted during the Late Jurassic period, when the site was a muddy ground next to a coastal lagoon, where vegetation thrived and the water attracted both herbivores and carnivores. The compact limestone we observe today, tilted at about 30 degrees, was then a soft sediment, but sufficiently consistent to retain the marks of dinosaurs that weighed between three and five tons. It is possible to distinguish, in some of these impressions, the raised edge of the mud that was displaced by the pressure of the animals' paws, a detail that brings visitors closer to this remote past.

Revelation and Interpretation

The Pedreira do Avelino deposit, identified in the late 1980s, was classified as a natural monument in 1997. Its discovery was partly due to the limestone extraction activity that existed in the local quarry. The powerful tectonic forces that, millions of years ago, originated the uplift of the Serra da Arrábida also caused these sedimentary layers to tilt and fracture, exposing the original surfaces where the dinosaurs walked. To enrich the visitor experience, there is an observation platform at the site, accompanied by informative panels that reveal curiosities and characteristics of the dinosaurs that lived here, aiding in the understanding of this site's significance.

License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.pt