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Inventories of vertebrate remains in palaeontological sites |
Inventories of vertebrate remains that may be found in palaeontological sites in a particular geographical area. The purpose is to be able to provide the necessary data so that the public authorities or companies may carry out an assessment of the scientific or heritage value of the sites and the palaeontological heritage there to ensure it is protected.
These inventories are drawn up by carrying out an exhaustive and systematic search of the existing bibliography as well as unpublished data that centres such as ours with a long history of research have, plus fieldwork and research. This bibliographical information is rounded off with the data provided by the fieldwork. These inventories are drawn up on sheets containing fields to be defined for each inventory and a report evaluating their importance from the viewpoint of science and heritage.
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Reports on the danger to palaeontological heritage for environmental impact studies. |
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Environmental impact studies for building projects that are going to be carried out in areas not declared cultural assets of national interest or protected archaeological areas must include the necessary action to determine whether the project affects palaeontological remains. This involves producing reports on the danger that such building work poses to palaeontological heritage. These reports include bibliographic and documentary research, as well as fieldwork (palaeontological prospecting). These reports or studies propose corrective measures to minimise the danger that the works pose to palaeontological heritage and, whenever possible, alternatives are proposed to avoid the danger posed. |
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Dating continental sediment using palaeontological methods |
This service includes detecting levels that contain significant concentrations of microvertebrate remains, analysing test samples from those levels, and sampling and intensive washing of the levels considered to be of interest. After the sediment has been washed the fossils are cleaned (the fossil remains are manually separated from the grains of sediment with a binocular microscope).
The aim is to date continental sedimentary rocks using the teeth of the micromammals recovered. This methodology is mainly applied to continental deposits from the Cenozoic (Tertiary) era and is complemented with magnetism studies for improved resolution.
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