Paleontological Sites at Rio do Peixe Basins (Northeastern Brazil): Georeferencing, Vulnerability Diagnosis and Protection Measures

Abstract

The abandoned state and depredation of the paleontological geosites at the Rio do Peixe basins have been for some time a reason for concern to authorities and the society. Removal of sand from the Monumento Natural Vale dos Dinossauros Park and removal of fossils from sites catalogued by SIGEP (Comissão Brasileira de Sítios Geológicos e Paleobiológicos) have been made public and recognized through this study. The aims of this paper are to: georeference the paleontological sites from the Rio do Peixe basins, provide a diagnostic of vunerability for these sites, and establish proposals for protection measures. Ten field work were carried out, in 2008 and 2009, by the technicians from DNPM. Besides a georeferenced map of the paleontological sites from the Rio do Peixe basins, nine factors that strongly contribute for the vulnerability of the sites were defined, the main ones being the natural action of weathering and the antropic action. Most of the studied sites have medium to high vulnerability degree. The most vulnerable site are: Pedregulho, Piau/Caiçara, Várzea dos Ramos, Lagoa dos Patos, Cabra Assada, and Matadouro. Currently, Matadouro Site can be considered a completely destroyed, being, its recovery no longer possible. Ten protection measures were proposed for these paleontological sites.