Project Description
Includes several paleontological sites related to sand deposits. The fossils are on ancient dunes stratigraphically located among the basaltic miocene lava flows and under basaltic pliocene lava flows. The calcareous sand deposits are inter-stratificated with alluvial deposits. The sites of Valle Grande, Valle Chico and Fuente de Gusa stand out. In those deposits there are fossil remains of large bones and eggs associated with a large species of sea birds, already extinct (Odontopterygiformes order), fragments of turtle shells, the only snake fossil in the archipelago (a snake vertebrae of the Boidae species), and gastropods. In this area, 4 new species of gastropod land molluscs have been described, called by a specific name from Órzola (Pupoides orzolae, Theba orzolae, Leptaxis orzolae and Canariella orzolae). Locally, between the sand and the lava there are mouths such as Fuente de Gusa.
The main interest of this geosite is paleontological, and the secondary ones are geomorphological, sedimentological and stratigraphic. This geosite has led to numerous scientific publications, as it has significant paleo-climatical and stratigraphic implications.