The Regional Natural Monument of Pedreira do Campo ( pt, Monumento Natural Regional da Pedreira do Campo, links=no), which singularly translated means ''field quarry'', is an area located west of ''Pico do Facho'' and ''Ponta do Figueiral'', in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

of Vila do Porto, on the island of Santa Maria in the Eastern Group of the Portuguese archipelago of the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

. Along with other sites in Santa Maria, Pedreira do Campo is an area known for the discovery of oceanic fossils, which has allowed a specific assessment of the age of the island.

History

The first references to this area came from the religious scholar and historian Gaspar Frutuoso who, writing in the 16th century, referred to calcareous sandstone deposits in a quarry near Figuerial, describing the sandstone as ''"... avingseafood shells glued on oit"''. Even after its modern re-discovery, by García-Talavera (in 1997), it attracted little attention, until the first international expedition ''Paleontology in Atlantic Islands'' (2002). A workshop followed, entitled ''Marine Fossils of the Azores: Perspectives on the Future'' (presented by the

Marine Biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies s ...

section of the

University of the Azores The University of the Azores (Portuguese: ''Universidade dos Açores''), or commonly abbreviated as ''UAc'', is the only public university in the Autonomous Region of the Azores. It was founded on January 9, 1976, two years after the Carnation Rev ...

and the Portuguese

Ordem dos Biólogos The Ordem dos Biólogos (OdB) is a professional body for biologists, primarily those working in Portugal. The Ordem dos Biólogos is headquartered in Lisbon, and has regional branches in several other cities across Portugal. It was founded on 4 Ju ...

), which first suggested ''"a proposal for protection and classification of Pedreira do Campo as a Natural Regional Monument''. A technical report was published (M. Cahão, et al., 2003) that eventually laid the foundation for the ''Natural Monument'' designation. On 25 December 2002, a resolution-in-council by the Regional Government designated Pedreira do Campo as a ''Regional Natural Monument'' (Resolution 203/2002), which was approved as Decree 11/2004/A on 23 March 2004.

Geography

Pedreira do Campo is a area, once associated with a rock quarrying, but since 2004 integrated into a protected area, that includes exposed sediments, extrusive magmatic and fossil deposits deep and above sea level. The rock formation is delimited by a composite of sedimentary rock from the Touril Volcanic Complex and magmatic rocks of the Facho-Pico Alto Volcanic Complex. These units are estimated at five million years in age, from the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58breccia Breccia () is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or rocks cemented together by a fine-grained matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language, in which it means "rubble". A breccia may have a variety of di ...

s, sandstones and conglomerates, as well as

sub-aerial In natural science, subaerial (literally "under the air"), has been used since 1833,Subaerial
in the Merriam- ...

deposits.DRA (2015) It is one of the areas where abundant fossilized bicarbonate rocks have been discovered, including micro- and macro-fossils of

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

, bi-valve

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

echinoderm An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the sea ...

s, as well as bio-eroded

sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through t ...

s and bi-valve skeletons. In terms of natural biological species, the area is known for '' Myrica faya'' (evergreen shrub), ''

Myrtus communis ''Myrtus communis'', the common myrtle or true myrtle, is a species of flowering plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It is an evergreen shrub native to southern Europe, North Africa, Western Asia, Macaronesia, and the Indian Subcontinent, and a ...

'' (myrtle) and the endemic ''Scabiosa nitens''. Migratory and marine bird species common to the area include the

common buzzard The common buzzard (''Buteo buteo'') is a medium-to-large bird of prey which has a large range. A member of the genus ''Buteo'', it is a member of the family Accipitridae. The species lives in most of Europe and extends its breeding range across ...

(''Buteo buteo rothschildi''), the Columbian rock pigeon (''Columbia livia atlantis''),

European greenfinch The European greenfinch or simply the greenfinch (''Chloris chloris'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. This bird is widespread throughout Europe, North Africa and Southwest Asia. It is mainly resident, but some north ...

(''Carduelis chloris aurantiiventris'') and

Atlantic canary The Atlantic canary (''Serinus canaria''), known worldwide simply as the wild canary and also called the island canary, common canary, or canary, is a small passerine bird belonging to the genus ''Serinus'' in the finch family, Fringillidae. It ...

(''Serinus canaria'').

References

Notes

Sources

* * * * {{citation , title=Monumento Natural Regional de Pedreira do Campo , editor=DRA , publisher=Direção Regional do Ambiente , year=2015 , language=Portuguese , location=Horta (Azores), Portugal Santa Maria Island Protected areas of Portugal Parks in the Azores