The Neogene of Portugal

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The Neogene of Portugal Ciencias da Terra (tJNLl Numeroespecial IT THE NEOGENE OF PORTUGAL M. Telles ANTUNES & Joao PAIS Centro de Estratigrafia e Paleobiologia (I.N.I.C.). Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia. Quinta da Torre. P-2825 Monte de Caparica FOREWORD and Gustave Dollfus gave important contribu­ tions. After years of research dedicated to the After a long eclipse, there was a remark­ Mediterranean Neogene (Project NQ 25, IUGS­ able resumption of Neogene studies due to UNESCO), there has been a considerable de­ Portuguese geologists or foreign geologists at velopment in activities concerning the Atlantic the service of Portugal. G. Zbyszewski de­ Neogene. serves a special reference for his work. Within this framework, the hinge-like Finally, we have tried to develop and co­ situation of . Portugal is quite interesting, ordinate efforts to reach the knowledge that, in considering the fact that the neogene units here spite of the amount of data already obtained, is are well represented and complete. This is far from being complete. This justifies the fol­ particularly true for the Tagus basin, that has a low-up of researches that are frequently done very rich record. At the beginning of the XIX with the collaboration of colleagues from other century, research has been conducted by the countries, mainly France. Part of this data is remarkable mineralogist (and future politician) presented in the following compilation of texts. Jose Bonifacio de Andrada e Silva (1763- 1838). Towards the 30's and 40's, the contributions due to Baron Von Eschwege, THE NEOGENE Alexandre Vandelli, Daniel Sharpe and a few others followed. Meanwhile, there was a The Neogene is widely represented in considerable development in investigations with Portugal. However, its geographical distribu­ the second Geological Commission (1857- tion is not at all homogeneous. Generally 1867), mainly due to the field works of Carlos speaking, the Miocene formations are particu­ Ribeiro and the important contributions of larly important to the South of the Central Francisco Pereira da Costa. Mountain Range and the Nazare fault in the After being abandoned for a while, the continent as well as in the continental shelf as studies were vigorously restarted at the far as Algarve. Special reference is made to the Geological Survey with Jorge Candido terminal part of the Tagus basin due to its re­ Berkeley Cotter, towards the end of the cen­ markable importance in the frame of Western tury. Lithostratigraphic classification, now Europe. considered classical but still used in the Lisbon The Pliocene, whose paleogeography is Miocene, is due to him. quite different, mainly corresponds to a band Some of the most remarkable paleontolo­ that basically stretches along the shoreline. The gists at the time, such as Oswald Heer, F. importance of the inland Pliocene deposits is Fontannes, Perceval de Loriol, Frederic Roman smaller than one had previously thought. 13 cco ID (,) o (,) +=' coC <C ~ ~~ Mediterranean Sea ~ Meridional border L.......:....,J Basins [CD Borderlands and moderately deformed chains ~ ~ Alpine chain 150Km CJ Hercynian basement Fig. 1 - Morphostructural units of the Iberian Peninsula (Lautensach in RIBEIRO et al., 1979, modified). The Neogene of the TagtI) Basin two for the Pliocene. Subsidence was intensive was compensated by active sedimentation. The continental debris arrived in large quantities mainly during the orogenic movements which The Neogene of the lower Tagus basin is reactivated old hercynian faults. remarkable in several ways: its geographical position, in the limits of the Mediterranean and Atlantic domains; the very complete representa­ OLIGOCENE-MIOCENE BOUNDARY tions of nearly all stages, from the Lower Aquitanian up to the Pliocene; the richness of The problem in the Oligocene-Miocene the data provided; the possibilities of geological boundary is in the Tagus basin as well as in correlations and their economical importance. other basins where the Aquitanian does not In Lisbon, the thickness of the Miocene grade down to a marine Chattian. Thus, the does not exceed 300 meters, and the Pliocene is lower layers which correspond to the first hardly represented; to the South, the thickness sedimentary cycle, have supplied apparently ar­ of the whole Neogene increases to about 1200 chaic fossils (certain ostracods, pollens, etc.), meters (results obtained from deep boreholes) suggesting an oligocene age. Another important whereas the outcropping Pliocene reaches the fact is the presence of glauconite dated by K-Ar thickness of 50 meters or more. to 24±1 Ma and 21,1±0,5 Ma. As far as accu­ Generally, several marine ingressions and racy is concerned, the method used is subject to the same amount of intercalated regressions errors that are not always controllable. The date were situated at the tenninal region of the basin; in question seems to overtake the 22.5 Ma limit one may enumerate several sedimentary cycles accepted by some authors. Other authors, in framed by transgression and the following re­ fact, place the Oligocene-Miocene limit at 24 or gression, seven for the Miocene and one or even 25 Ma. 14 2 « iLl U 0 D Quaternary ~ Tertiary U E83.......... Cretaceous .... Jurassic :z ~ cC. Triassic ..J .... -~ Carboniferous d. Devonian.Silurian and Ordovician Cambrian Cl! [ill Precambrian CDc ::l ...c ~++HI++++ Igneous rocks et III E Main faults ... --- 'Illu.. ui 0 50 Km CD - C Fig. 2 - Simplified geological map of Portugal. 15 In some places, the Aquitanian overlays Miocene. One may also recognize climatic unconformally older units. Elsewhere, there is modifications, important in marine fauna: tropi­ a continuous passage evidencing the develop­ cal conditions were predominant, at least since ment of the first miocene transgression. the genesis of the coral line barrier reefs of the Aquitanian; a maximum temperature, compara­ ble to the present day Gulf of Guinea, was reached at the Upper Burdigalian and Langhian. Later, the prevailing conditions were closer to those existing at the present day in the moroc­ can coast. The fauna and vegetation of the continent indicate humid periods alternating with rela­ tively dry ones, leading to forestal environ­ ments rather than savannah or steppe. Transgressions and regressions also had palaeogeographical consequences (Fig. 5; Fig. 6): limited ingression forming a narrow gulf (TO); aquitanian gulf spread out to the Z hinterland up to the region of Almeirim (TI); <C similar circunstances for (T2) in the great u.o U Aquitanian transgression and for the o Burdigalian; at the late Burdigalian early Langhian two brief oscillations (T3 and T4) gave rise to important changes with the submergence of the Sado basin and the coast North of the Serra de Sintra; at the apogee of the Serravallian transgression (T5) the Serra de Sintra-Caneltas anticline probably became an island while the maximal progression inland was responsible for the establishment of the Tejo/Sado basin beyond Santarem (these indications allow one to correlate the continental deposits of Ribatejo with the marine formations); lastly,the gulf has clearly shrunk during the Tortonian. The fundamentallithological characteristics are indicated as a whole in the given scheme (Fig. 5). The Pliocene formations, or supposed as such, are more reduced and not as well known. Fig. 3 - Main Tertiary deposits of Portugal. Firstly, a series of feldspathic sediments, mostly coarse and of continental facies, have never been properly dated. They overlie the marine upper Miocene. However, as the last TIlE NEOGENE IN TIlE WFSfERN RE­ well dated layers are still Tortonian, there is a GION OF TIlE TAGUS BASIN considerable badly defined gap (Messinian or Zanclean?). These sediments show the setting The region between Lisbon and the up or the renewal of an important hydrographic Amibida chain is important. In the present state network. The mouth could be situated further to of knowledge, seven miocene cycles (marked the South, near Fonte da Telha. TO to T6) and a cycle belonging to the Pliocene The preceding series is overlaid by marine (Fig. 5) have been identified. One has to note layers that are more or less coarse, mostly the considerable wealth of these facies as well sandy, with a mollusc fauna reported to the as paloontological information. The positions of Piazencian, and some plants. the levels containing mammals are easily re­ The Pliocene gulf was not well developed ferred in relation to the marine formations. to the East. On the other hand, the deposits re­ These allow the possibility of doing direct cor­ lated to the Pliocene transgression stretch from relations of the first order between marine and the North of Portugal to the Algarve. This is continental horizons, at least for the lower limited to the costal region that is more or less Miocene and the first stages of the Middle reached by marine erosion. 16 ~ClaYSand ~mudstones ~GastroPOdslMOlIl:ISks 6.1. Bioturbation I:: :::::: :: ISiltitic clays Coal ~ ~ Pectinids I Oysters ' ... a ~Clayey silts and Diatomites f<fjcross.stralificatiOn [Ecorals L.=:::j siltslones 1;;1 I: :..: :. ~ :I Silts and • : '. : '.. siltstones ~umestones .!Il § { • Scarce __ Marly ~Clayey sands 'ill ~ 0 Frequent ~and sandstones _ -_limestones ~ ~ § @ Abundant .. ·,;,;,:;:,:\;.\ .... \~. Feldspathic sands • • Detrital r~.~: .. -:~\ and sandstones ~••••• limestones COngIOmerates, • •• ' .' ••'0 Gravels, · .•.. ' .'.\ Coarse sands and ~-=IMarls ~., sandstones Fig. 4 - Logs legend concerning the portuguese geology. TIlE NEOGENE OF RIBATFJO there is initially
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