Lode Clay Quarry

This unusual quarry is located between the Liepa village and the ancient Gauja valley. At the end of the 20th century, clay was mined here on an industrial scale to be used in the production of bricks.
Lode clay deposit was discovered in 1953 by the geologist J.Slienis. Ten years later industrial extraction of clay for brick-making was started. The clay-pit became world-famous when the geologist V.Kurss in 1970 first time in the history of the world discovered well-preserved fossils of Upper Devonian armored fish and Strunius kurshi fish. Still, nowhere else fish fossils in such good condition have been discovered; part of the fossils can be viewed in the expositions and funds of the Latvian Museum of Natural History. Nowadays clay is extracted by the company „Lode“ which produces finishing, oven-chimney, and construction bricks, as well as other clay items.  The Lode armored fish deposit is a protected natural monument.