Design by Unformal Studio and Developed by Protyp.
This region presents a vast and significant geodiversity, providing access to the most comprehensive geological record of the last 600 million years of the Portuguese mainland. It reflects the territory's evolution over time, with geodiversity manifested prominently in its geological resources, the shaping of the landscapes in the Bairrada-Mondego-Atlantic region, and the interaction with the culture of its communities.
Here, you can witness a broad geological time span, marked by rocks ranging from the Neoproterozoic to the Holocene, spanning over 600 million years. This area is one of the most geodiverse in Portugal, offering evidence of the closure of the Rheic Ocean, the formation and subsequent fragmentation of Pangea, and the consequent opening of the North Atlantic Ocean.
The region is also rich and diverse in water-related resources such as rivers, springs, fountains, wells, thermal waters, irrigation channels, lagoons, marshes, floodplains, salt pans, and beaches. Among these, the Mondego and Alva rivers, the Ançã and Olhos da Fervença springs, the São João and Santa Cristina fountains, and the waters of Luso, Penacova, and Cruzeiro hold particular relevance for the territory.
This reality has allowed the organization of these locations and associated activities into designated routes, namely the "Rota da Água" and the "Rota das Praias".
Furthermore, the significant geodiversity of the territory, bordered to the south by the Mondego river and to the north by the Vouga river, has been intricately carved by the various watercourses of these two hydrographic basins. This geological reality is deeply connected to the local material and immaterial cultural heritage and many economic activities, experienced by both locals and visitors along the "Rota da Pedra".
These three routes, complementary yet distinctive from the current tourist offerings, constitute a new and innovative resource for territorial interpretation based on geoconservation, geoeducation, and geotourism, providing visitors with a unique experience.
It is in the geological substrate that landscapes are shaped by the action of water, wind, and living beings, including humans. In this context, not only is all biodiversity indelibly connected to geodiversity, but the latter is also the reason for many of the natural aspects and wonders of nature that attract us.
The eastern part of this territory is characterized by mountains sculpted by the Mondego and Alva rivers, cutting through valleys nestled in this mountain range, a kind of backbone for the municipalities of Penacova and Mealhada, dividing it into two parts: the northern part, the Bussaco mountain range; and the southern part, the Atalhada mountain range. In these mountain ranges with extensive forests, typical of the interior of the territory, the Bussaco National Forest stands out. The geological history embedded in the rocks of this territory began with the deposition of sediments resulting from the erosion of ancient continents at the bottom of a long-gone sea, located in paleo-Antarctic latitudes. As a result of this process, we find metamorphic rocks today, constituting the oldest and most abundant materials in this area.
However, in the same area, a strip of metasedimentary rocks with ages between 480 Ma and 300 Ma occurs, sitting unconformably or in discordance on the aforementioned older rocks. This strip has a NW-SE direction and consists of rocks from the Ordovician (485 - 444 Ma), Silurian (444 - 419 Ma), and Carboniferous (359 - 299 Ma) periods.
The presence of quartzitic rocks is often revealed in the landscapes of the Bussaco and Atalhada mountains by the occurrence of rocky ridges practically devoid of vegetation. Due to their high quartz composition, these quartzitic outcrops shape a relief of hardness resulting from differential erosion compared to the surrounding rocks.
This region between Bussaco and Penacova continues to be the subject of paleontology and stratigraphy studies, given the presence of fossiliferous rocks internationally renowned for their content of trilobite fossils, trace fossils, plants, among others. The publication of the first reference to these materials dates back to 1850, encompassing the Ordovician and Silurian sequences in the Bussaco region, the work of geologist and archaeologist Carlos Ribeiro.
During the Late Paleozoic (359 - 251 Ma), the collision of the existing continents led to the formation of the supercontinent Pangea and a mountain-building process known as the Variscan Orogeny. This continental collision caused the deformation of pre-existing rocks, with the formation of faults and folds. In the eastern part of this territory, some of these processes are well marked, particularly in the Bussaco and Atalhada mountains, where the strata of Ordovician quartzites, originally horizontal, are now verticalized. This aspect has given notoriety to the "Livraria do Mondego" over many decades, transforming this location into a geological, landscape, and didactic point of interest.
In the early Mesozoic (251-66 Ma), the supercontinent Pangea began to fracture, initiating the process that led to the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean. This occurrence was due to several episodes of extension and thinning of the Earth's crust, well marked in this territory, especially in the western part, from the base of the Bussaco mountain range to Cabo Mondego.
The initial moments of the supercontinent fracture, starting in the Triassic (251-201 Ma), are marked in the territory by a set of red-colored sandstones and conglomerates, the so-called "Grés de Silves." Subsequently, the continuous opening of the North Atlantic led to the formation of the Lusitanian Basin, where the development of a carbonate platform during the Jurassic (201-145 Ma) led to the deposition of an impressive carbonate sequence. This sequence is mostly composed of limestones and fossiliferous marls, well represented in Cabo Mondego and Serra da Boa Viagem. This reality allowed the establishment of the GSSP (Global Stratotype Section and Point) of the Bajocian (171 - 168 Ma) and the ASSP (Auxiliary Stratotype Section and Point) of the Bathonian (168 - 165 Ma) in this area, conferring undeniable international scientific relevance to this territory. The famous "Pedra de Ançã", a specific type of easily workable limestone known since the 14th century for its use in sculpture and architecture, also dates back to these ages.
Although at the end of the Jurassic and during the Early Cretaceous (145-100 Ma), the basin evolved into progressively shallower environments, leading to gradual infilling in the Late Cretaceous (100-66 Ma), the sedimentary record represents an open-ocean environment, materialized in the Western Meso-Cenozoic Margin, where two major filling episodes are recognized.
Subsequently, during the Cenozoic era (66 Ma - present), a series of deformation events occurred, giving rise to a set of small basins, with the Mondego Basin standing out. From the Upper Miocene (10 Ma) onward, lithospheric movements shaped the distinctive reliefs and mountains of central Portugal. The development of the drainage network of the Mondego river basin and its tributaries played a significant role in the breakdown of existing rocks and the consequent formation of the reliefs that characterize the region. This process allowed for sediment deposition and the creation of plains that developed in the western part of this territory, toward the coast. The sediments deposited in these floodplains provided excellent conditions for human habitation, directly linked to the fertility of the agricultural soils in the area. Indeed, from the surrounding area of Montemor-o-Velho to Figueira da Foz and further north to the vicinity of Gândara (Mira), the most recent sediments deposited in the Meso-Cenozoic Margin and the existing rocks have given rise to soils with excellent agricultural and viticultural qualities, especially in the municipalities of Cantanhede, Mealhada, and Mira.
The regulation of the Mondego river bed, carried out during the 20th century, facilitated the increased development of rice and corn agriculture in the floodplain, covering a large area in the municipality of Montemor-o-Velho and extending to Figueira da Foz. It's worth noting that the Mondego played a significant role in the mobility and trade of populations in the past, from the Porto da Raiva in Penacova to Figueira da Foz. Currently, the development of commercial, fishing, and recreational ports brings significant economic and tourist importance to the river's estuary.
The western boundary of the territory is outlined by the Atlantic Ocean, whose current marine biodiversity has enabled the establishment of fishing communities, where Arte-Xávega continues to be used as part of a very ancient tradition. In this connection to the Atlantic, another very ancient tradition associated with salt workers and salt pans is still prominent in the region around the Mondego estuary, near the Morraceira island.
In this Land/Sea interface, the deposition of sediments carried along the coast by ocean currents has given rise to extensive beaches that stretch almost uninterruptedly from Mira to the southern limit of Figueira da Foz. These beaches hold significant tourist importance, especially for the conditions they offer for various water sports.
It is in the complex and unique geodiversity of this region that the beauty of its landscapes is rooted, easily observed from the numerous viewpoints, and where the most significant events in the evolution of the Portuguese continental territory are documented. This includes the opening, evolution, and closure of the paleo-ocean Rheic, the accretion and fragmentation of Pangea, with particular emphasis on the opening and evolution of the North Atlantic, and the most recent development of rural and coastal landscapes, stimulating a continuous and dynamic interaction between humans, the remaining biodiversity, rocks, and water.
600 million years of geological History
Cantanhede Tourist Office
Lg. Conselheiro Ferreira Freire
3060-201 CANTANHEDE
T: 231 410 155
Figueira da Foz Tourist Office
Esplanada Silva Guimarães-Castelo Eng.º Silva
3080-501 FIGUEIRA DA FOZ
T: 233 209 500
Mealhada Tourist Office
Av. Fonte Nova, 3050-333 MEALHADA
3080-501 FIGUEIRA DA FOZ
T: 231 281 372
Montemor-o-Velho Tourist Office
Paço das Infantas-Castelo de Montemor-o-Velho,
3140-258 MONTEMOR-O-VELHO
T: 239 680 380
Praia de Mira Tourist Office
Av. da Barrinha, nº 55
3070-792 PRAIA DE MIRA
T: 924 473 751
Penacova Tourist Office
Lg. Alberto Leitão, nº 5
3360-191 PENACOVA
T: 239 470 300