The “Atlantic Geopark” Project corresponds to the first stage of a broad project addressing a future application to the Global Geopark Network of a territory located in Portugal: “The Atlantic Geopark: 600 million of geological history”. It covers six central littoral and rural municipalities (Cantanhede, Figueira da Foz, Mealhada, Mira, Montemor-o-Velho, and Penacova), which display special and singular geodiversity, and it includes geological heritage with international relevance representing the opening and closing of the Rheic Ocean, the formation and breakup of Pangea, and the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean. Besides the geological heritage, here presented through the description and characterization of six geological sites (one per municipality) which served as anchors for the development of the project currently underway, the territory also provides other geoheritage resources related to uses of the local geological features. These resources hold significance in bolstering an application to the Global Geopark Network soon. They encompass partially artificial elements such as road excavations, agricultural soils, and quarries, as well as entirely artificial elements such as interpretation centers and museums. These elements serve as tangible representations of the various ways in which the Earth and local communities interact.
23 December 2022 in Cadernos do Laboratorio Xeolóxico de Laxe. Revista de Xeoloxía Galega e do Hercínico Peninsular
A synthesis of the knowledge of the Schist-Greywacke Domain (SGD) in Portugal is here presented. Until recently, this sequence assumed the designation of Dúrico-Beirão Supergroup composed by the Douro Group (DG) and the Beiras Group (BG). The DG is considered of Neoproterozoic – Cambrian age and the BG is of Neoproterozoic age. The identification and mapping in the BG of an unconformity as the Cadomian unconformity identified in Spain, which splits the Neoproterozoic in “lower Alcudian” and “upper Alcudian”, is a turning point for the understanding and establishment of consistent stratigraphic sequences that now compose the Fróia and the Lousã groups assembled in the Beiras Supergroup. These new groups are correlated with the Neoproterozoic sequences currently recognized in Spain: the Lousã group is equivalent to the Ibor Group (upper Alcudian) and the Fróia Group is equivalent pro parte, to the Domo Extremeño Supergroup.
The study of a brachiopod collection from the Queixopêrra Member of the Cabeço do Peão Formation (Upper Ordovician), in Portugal, has provided a low-diversity association composed exclusively of draboviids. The commonest components in this association are Drabovia cf. redux and Hirnantia kinnelloides, both only known until now from the Letná Formation (Sa2), Bohemia (Czech Republic). The occurrence of H. kinnelloides in the Queixopêrra Member (Ka1) constitutes the youngest known occurrence of this taxon, which extends its stratigraphical range and strengthens the palaeogeographical relationship between Portugal and the Bohemian region during the early Late Ordovician.