Rescue Program of salvage of fossiliferous heritage of Teles Pires hydroelectric power plant (MT, Brazil): case study

Abstract

In this paper, it has been presented the activities and general results from the Fossiliferous Heritage Research, Monitoring and Rescue Program performed in the Hydroelectric Power Plant Teles Pires. A good number of vegetal macrofossils and rare molds of conchiferous invertebrates were collected in the terraces deposits of the Teles Pires River. In terms of microfossils, the presence of spicules of freshwater sponges was detected. According to the absolute dating made at the base of the deposits, it was suggested that the deposition of the current sedimentary terraces of the Teles Pires river began at least 66,000 years ago. From the realization of the program, two recommendations are addressed to future programs of paleontological rescue in this type of enterprise: (i) all land containing sedimentary rocks that will become permanently inaccessible should be prospected for fossil (unlike the one recommended in the initial proposal which restricted the salvage to the area of the river channel near the dam); ii) there must always be collections and analyzes for the extraction of possible microfossils, since the presence of microfossils in sedimentary deposits has been largely neglected in the proposals of paleontological rescue presented to the competent agencies, but this heritage of microscopic scale also deserves our attention and safeguard given its relevance to paleoenvironmental and climatic reconstructions.

Keywords

• Paleontological heritage
• Paleontological rescue
• North region of Brazil