Part 2! : Formação dos Olhos de Ãgua

[Max-fossils]

Hello again!

 

Surprsingly, there's a part 2 to our fossil hunting! This is just as much a surprises for us than for you.

 

Yesterday we went to visit some beaches recommended by the reception. The first one we went to was Benagil. This beach is famous for its huge cliffs, and especially for a special cave only accessible by boat. Unfortunately there was no boat to take us, so we just rested on the beach. That's when I noticed that the cliffs were exactly like those that we saw at Oura (see previous post on the Formação dos Olhos de Ãgua), so I started to look for fossils. And of course, there were plenty! Unfortunately I still didn't have a hammer, as I didn't know we would go fossil hunting again, but I found another way to carve out the fossils from the cliffs. I took a piece of a big (modern) Pectens (scallop), which was shaped like a knife, and scratched around the fossils I saw to carve them out. I was surprised by the softness of the matrix around them: it easily went away with the "knife".

 

As you can see in this picture, there were some recent landslides that occurred. No wonder there's a "Warning: Rock Falling!" sign!

[Max-fossils]

[Max-fossils]

Something I noticed about the cliffs was that there were a lot less echinoids, but also a lot more coral! I was quite happy to see coral, because I don't have much fossil coral yet.

[Max-fossils]

[Max-fossils]

After that we went to another beach: Vale Centeanes. The view from above was amazing.

[Max-fossils]

The cliffs were plentiful of fossil scallops, fossil coral, and fossil internal molds of gastropods (they're called steinkerns, right?)!

[Max-fossils]

[Max-fossils]

I even found some fossil barnacles!

[Max-fossils]

Also a scallop, fossilized still with both sides attached together. Quite special, I was surprised to find this.

[Max-fossils]

[Max-fossils]

A steinkern with the shell still there.

[Max-fossils]

At last we went to Marinha to admire the amazing rock formations in the sea. One of the coolest sights my eyes have ever seen...

There were quite a few fossils in the rocks, but my phone ran out of battery so I couldn't take any insitu pics.

[Max-fossils]

So that was it. I must say, this hint was a lot more successful than the previous one; though again no sharkteeth were found. Here are all the finds:

[Vieira]

Nice report and pictures .

 

None echinoid or vertebrate material?

 

Continuation of a good holiday.

 

Best regards

Filipe

[Max-fossils]

Some highlights:

 

1: a nice scallop 

[Max-fossils]

3 minutes ago, Vieira said:

Nice report and pictures .

 

None echinoid or vertebrate material?

 

Continuation of a good holiday.

 

Best regards

Filipe

Thanks Filipe!

 

Unfortunately no vertebrate material...

But a bit of echinoids material coming up!

[Max-fossils]

2: a small but nice oyster! I was very happy with this one.

[Max-fossils]

3: a small piece if coral

 

[Vieira]

1 minute ago, Max-fossils said:

Thanks Filipe!

 

Unfortunately no vertebrate material...

But a bit of echinoids material coming up!

Is weird. The information I have tell me that in those places are vertebrate material. Maybe it's rarerest than I thought.

 

[Max-fossils]

3 minutes ago, Vieira said:

Is weird. The information I have tell me that in those places are vertebrate material. Maybe it's rarerest than I thought.

 

I was expecting to find some too...

But it doesn't matter, I still found some very nice scallops. Thanks for telling me about te location in the first place!

[Max-fossils]

4: some echinoid fragments

[Max-fossils]

5: are those "tungsten worms" or something like that? 

[Max-fossils]

6: is this a piece of Dentalina?

[Vieira]

1 minute ago, Max-fossils said:

5: are those "tungsten worms" or something like that? 

 

Yes those are worm tubes..

[Vieira]

4 minutes ago, Max-fossils said:

I was expecting to find some too...

But it doesn't matter, I still found some very nice scallops. Thanks for telling me about te location in the first place!

 

The most important are the holidays you are going through

 

When we can combine holidays and fossils is the perfect setting.