[1][2][3] The natural monument consists of approximately twenty different trackways on a broad limestone stratum exposure, part of the Calcários Micríticos da Serra de Aire formation, and 175 millions of years in age.

[1] Unusually well preserved, many footprints display claw and digit impressions, as seen in the gallery photos below, which allows for some level of determination of the paw anatomy of the animals.

At that time, Europe was still connected to the North American continent and, between Iberia and Newfoundland, penetrated a shallow sea of warm and clear waters, conducive to the formation of coral reefs.

Geological interactions millions of years later gave rise to what is now the Serra de Aire mountain range, in which the slab sits slightly dipping at an approximate altitude of 300 m (984 ft).

The best times of the day to visit the site, and observe the shaded contrast between the footprints and the surrounding rock layer, are therefore as early as possible in the morning or late in the afternoon, when the sun is at a low incidence angle to the stratum.