2025

Paleonthology

Name: Paleonthology
Code: GEO02674L
6 ECTS
Duration: 15 weeks/156 hours
Scientific Area: Geosciences

Teaching languages: Portuguese
Languages of tutoring support: Portuguese

Sustainable Development Goals

Learning Goals

a) Providing the students with the knowledge of the biological evolution of living beings through time, based on the study, analysis and interpretation of fossils.

b) Recognize basic features of the biological evolution of major living beings groups over the time.

c) Estimate the relative age of the geological formations based on the occurrence of several groups of fossils.

d) Apply the acquired knowledge in the palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.

e) Recognize the importance of Palaeontology in the support of the Economic Geology.

Contents

1. INTRODUCTION;
2. HISTORY OF PALEONTOLOGY IN PORTUGAL;
3. TAPHONOMY;
4. FOSSILIZATION;
5. TECHNIQUES APPLIED IN PALEONTOLOGY;
6. SYSTEMATIC PALEONTOLOGY;
7. MICROPALAEONTOLOGY;
8. PALAEOBOTANY;
9. PALAEOZOOLOGY;
10. HUMAN PALAEONTOLOGY;
11. THE FOSSILS IN THE ALENTEJO REGION.

Teaching Methods

In the first sessions, the students become familiar with some techniques used in the Palaeontology work (e.g., fossil preparation, washing disaggregated sediments, treatments with acids, concentration of the material, moulding and reconstitution). The rest will be reserved for the study of fossils groups mentioned in the classes. In each class, the students observe fossil specimens and fill out note cards.
The evaluation of the acquired knowledge by students will be made with regarding the University of Évora rules. The students will conduct a written test and prepare a research paper on a subject directly related to the module.
In both cases (written test and work) students are evaluated taking into account the theoretical and practical subjects in order to determine whether the essential objectives of the teaching have been reached.