Site - Valongo Palaeozoic Parque, Valongo

The Parque Paleozoico de Valongo encompasses a privileged area from a geological point of view, presenting a great geodiversity, from which stands out the most important Palaeozoic fossiliferous deposits, internationally known, and the gold and antimony mineralizations that were explored since the time of the roman mining activity in Portugal. Based on scientific researchstudies it was possible to know some of the geology particularities of this region from over than 540 million years ago and untilabout 280 million years agowas covered by the sea. It was possible to know, for example, that 470 million years ago a tsunami swept the Valongo’s region, accumulating a large thickness of lingulidshells along the coast or knowing that in the Valongo’s seas, 440 million years ago, existed icebergs. Among the innumerable invertebrates that lived in the Valongo’s seas of the Palaeozoic, stand out the Trilobites and the Graptolites. These animals temporarily dominated the Palaeozoic seas, having disappeared from our planet before the first dinosaurs appeared. These different aspects of geology can be enjoyed eitherby visiting the Centro de InterpretaçãoAmbiental(Environmental Interpretation Centre) or by travelling through time that takes you back about 540 million years ago or that takes you to the 1st century AD (Augustus Era), in which the gold was explored by the Romans. (Text taken from Valongo Natura n.º1) Prof. Doutora (Professor) Helena Couto –Professora Associada (Associate Professor) from the Departamento de Geologia da FCUP (Geology Department of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto)