Lourinhã formation-Portugal

[Rankin21]

Hey everyone! 

 

Im currently in Peniche, Portugal and I’ve been doing a little research and found that the Lourinhã formation is nearby.  I went to the museum today in Lourinha town and saw some of the amazing finds that’s have come out of this formation!

 

 Can anyone recommend the best beaches to go to to fossil hunt? Anything specific I should be looking out for? Basically any advice would be amazing!  

 

Thanks  

 

 

[caldigger]

@Vieira

@ricardo

[Troodon]

I believe most of the collecting areas for dinosaur material its found in the cliffs, boulders that overlook the beaches.  Most of the better cliffs I think are below Peniche.  This might help but the cliffs can be dangerous.

 

 

 

 

[ricardo]

16 hours ago, Rankin21 said:

Can anyone recommend the best beaches to go to to fossil hunt

 

Hello,

 

I was born in Peniche and my Mother in Lourinhã… so I know very well all the region. I really never collected in Lourinhã Fm, so I´m not the better person to give some info. I´m a fan of Lourinhã Museum work, for that reason I leave the collecting for them.

Wellcome, good luck to your collecting and enjoy Western Portugal 

[Vieira]

On ‎16‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 7:39 PM, Rankin21 said:

Hey everyone! 

 

Im currently in Peniche, Portugal and I’ve been doing a little research and found that the Lourinhã formation is nearby.  I went to the museum today in Lourinha town and saw some of the amazing finds that’s have come out of this formation!

 

 Can anyone recommend the best beaches to go to to fossil hunt? Anything specific I should be looking out for? Basically any advice would be amazing!  

 

Thanks  

 

 

 

This is a area very unproductive in this moment. The fantastic finds you can see in the museu was mostly found 20/30 years ago.

 

Occasionally appear some isolated fossil but its very rare. A winter as the last don't help. It's necessary a lot of rain to expose something....

 

in terms of locations any beach from torres vedras to peniche might give some find.

 

[Flx]

Hi

I will stay a few days near Porto Novo beginning of August. As a dinosaur enthusiast who spends a lot of time preparing Morrison Fm. fossils, I have of course read about the late Jurrasic Dinos that have been found in the Lourinha formation.

 

I found this topic which is already quite useful. Probably someone can help me with some follow-up questions:

- When looking at the cliffs of eg. Praia das Conchas different layers can be seen that vary in color. Also, some layers seem to be soft mudstone/sandstone while other layers look rather robust. Is it possible to say which layers are good/bad for finding dino fossils?

- Is it ok for the authorities to surface collect fossils? 

- Is it ok for the authorities to dig through small volumes of matrix with hand tools? 

- For the (very unlikely) case that I find someting potentially interesting to research: Is the Lourinha museum the right place to inform?

 

@Vieira

maybe you have some insights?

 

[Vieira]

Hi,

 

You can visit the Museum in the center of Lourinhã and the new - Dinopark. You can see fossils found in this areas.

 

The collect and dig are forbidden and is only allowed to the paleontologists with city council authorization. Lourinhã its a important place for scientific studies in the field of paleontology and draws attention to some collectors... For avoid some exploration of collectores they created some regulamentation and in this point when someone its seen prospecting or digging normally the authorities appears.

 

[Flx]

5 hours ago, Vieira said:

Hi,

 

You can visit the Museum in the center of Lourinhã and the new - Dinopark. You can see fossils found in this areas.

 

The collect and dig are forbidden and is only allowed to the paleontologists with city council authorization. Lourinhã its a important place for scientific studies in the field of paleontology and draws attention to some collectors... For avoid some exploration of collectores they created some regulamentation and in this point when someone its seen prospecting or digging normally the authorities appears.

 

 

Ok, thank you for the info. I will check out the museum and probably the dino park with my kids.

It is a bit sad that digging is forbidden but I can understand the decision by the authorities. The last thing I want to do is disrupt scientific research.