Caminhando Sobre o Passado no Museu do Amanhã (original) (raw)

Observation itineraries of paleontological and geological aspects in the façades and floors of buildings are very widespread in several places of the world and are currently present in Brazil. This urban geotourism allows people to get to know the geodiversity without having to be in the outcrop in situ. The Museum of Tomorrow, located in Praça Mauá, nº 1, downtown Rio de Janeiro, has an inner lining and part of the outer lining, a coloring lime varying from beige to ivory. This limestone, originating from the Jandaíra Formation, Upper Cretaceous of the Potiguar Basin, Northeast of Brazil, is full of fossils of gastropod molluscs. The present work describes the fossils found on the floor in and around the Museum of Tomorrow and proposes a geotouristic script and an explanatory folder. For the elaboration of the script, eight points were selected based on four aspects: a) quantity of fossils per slab, b) taxonomic diversity, c) better state of preservation of fossils, d) different type of fossilization, and e) paleoenvironmental differences. The fossils identified in the course are the following gastropod molluscs: Plesioptygmatis Böse, 1906 and Nerinea Deshayes, 1827 (Nerineidae), Tylostoma Sharpe, 1849 (Naticidae), Trochactaeon Meek, 1863 (Trochacteonidae) and Family Fasciolariidae (indeterminate genus). As the Museum of Tomorrow works on exhibitions related to past, present and future time, it is possible during the course to enter information on geological time and to discuss this topic more comprehensively. In addition, this script, along with the explanatory folder, will allow the mediators to develop the paleontological content in the guided tours of schools and the public in general, taking advantage of the space to diversify the scientific dissemination.