PaleoAngola Video Presentation

Projecto PaleoAngola is a field-based paleontological and geological project focused on the effects of the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean on life through geologic time, from 130 Ma to the present. The field area is Angola, a country at war for 47 years until a peace treaty was signed in 2002. The first Projecto PaleoAngola expedition occurred in 2005 and expeditions to Angola have been conducted. The reason Angola was targeted is because it is the only country in Africa where fossiliferous rocks of the appropriate age and context are found in outcrop. Angola provided a unique opportunity because no major geological field expeditions had been conducted in Angola since prior to the acceptance of plate tectonics, the unifying paradigm of modern geology. Projecto PaleoAngola was the first. Funding has been provided by the National Geographic Society, the Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society, Sonangol EP, Esso Angola, Fundação Vida (Angola), LS Films, Maersk, Damco, Safmarine, ISEM, The Royal Dutch Embassy in Luanda, TAP Airlines, Royal Dutch Airlines, The Saurus Institute, and the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. Projecto PaleoAngola is a multinational, multifaceted project centered at SMU. Angolan partners include Agostinho Neto University, Tundavala Private University, and the Methodist University of Angola.