The marine fossils from Santa Maria Island. An Historical overview

• Autor(a) principal: Madeira, Patrícia
• Data de Publicação: 2007
• Outros Autores: Kroh, Andreas, Martins, António M. de Frias, Ávila, Sérgio P.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.3/818
• topic: Histiorical overview; Marine fossil; Santa Maria Island (Azores)

In the Azores, Santa Maria is the only island with a sedimentary cover in a nine island volcanic system. This southeast most island of the archipelago has a rich fossil record, dated to the Late Miocene-Early Pliocene and to the Pleistocene. Palaeontological investigations on the island started in the late nineteen century. Nevertheless, through the next 150 years, the number of publications and thus the attention given to the fossil record of Santa Maria shows considerable fluctuation over time. From the beginning, the Miocene-Pliocene outcrops, more numerous in the island, focused the attention of the scholars. Recently, however, the interest has shifted to the Pleistocene outcrops. Data obtained from these outcrops has been used extensively in the interpretation and discussion of the Azorean geological genesis and evolution, particularly of Santa Maria, the oldest island of the archipelago. However, its role in the interpretation and discussion of the origin and subsequent evolution of insular marine communities has been meagre. The checklists produced for Santa Maria’s fossiliferous outcrops, account for a large spectrum of represented animal groups. Workers have focused their attention on the molluscs, being the group best represented in the fossil record. Data on other animal groups is still scarce, particularly in case of the Pleistocene outcrops. The fossiliferous beds of Santa Maria are far from being an exhausted matter and further research in the Island should be considered.