Pegadas de Dinossáurios da Serra de Aire Natural Monument
The Aire Range Dinosaur Tracks Natural Monument, also known as Ourém - Torres Novas Dinosaur Tracks Natural Monument, is a natural monument in the Serras de Aire e Candeeiros Natural Park, Portugal, known for its long and well-preserved sauropod trackways. When discovered, it had the single longest known sauropod trackway in the world at 147 m (482 ft) long.
The natural monument consists of approximately twenty different trackways on a broad limestone stratum exposure, part of the Calcários Micríticos da Serra de Aire formation, and 175 millions of years in age. Unusually well preserved, many footprints display claw and digit impressions, as seen in the gallery photos below, which allows for some level of determination of the paw anatomy of the animals.
The area was originally a quarry, the Pedreira do Galinha.[1]
On July 2, 1994, Ricardo Matos da Silva, João Pedro Falcão and João Carvalho, discovered the footprints that would turn the quarry into the current monument.
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