SEPTEMBER 27^th – 30^th, 1999

27^th September: Arrabida Natural Park and Escoural cave

Departure of Lisbon

Sesimbra – Espichel cape wave-cut limestone platform. Dinosaur track of late Jurassic. Cave of Zambujal: beautiful cave with evidences of tectonoseismic phenomena. Fojo dos Morcegos cave: paleo-exsurgence on the sea level. Diapiric valley of Sesimbra. Arrabida Natural Park: limestone anticlines covered with Mediterranean flora.

Santiago do Escoural – Escoural cave: Palaeolithic paintings in a cave opened in Cambrian marbles.

Évora – World Heritage town (roman monuments, medieval cathedral). Almendres cromlech.

Diana Temple, roman monument in Évora

28^th September: Estremoz Limestone Massif and Preguiça Mines

Reguengos de Monsaraz: Fortified border town in a famous wine region. Outeiro Menhir.

Estremoz – Cambrian limestones and dolomites massif with relict karst morphologies. Marble quarry.

Sobral da Adica – Ore deposits associated with paleokarst of Preguiça Sierra: visit to the Preguiça mine and cave.

Beja – Medieval tower about 40 metres high. Alentejo peneplain.

Alentejo peneplain

29^th September – Cerro da Cabeca karren and Nave do Barao polje

Faro – Roman villa of Estoi (centuries I to IV).

Moncarapacho – Ruiniform karren in upper Jurassic dolomitic limestone of Cerro da Cabeca.

Nave do Barão – Blind valley like polje. Fonte Benemola: spring and hanging caves on the entrenched Salir creek valley. Rocha da Pena: mesa like limestone relief.

Albufeira – Submarine karst springs in conchitic Miocene limestones of Olhos de Agua beach.

30th September – Miocene karst and Sagres promontory

Silves – Ancient town of Arab tradition (Al-Mutamid emir); castle build with Triassic red sandstones.

Estombar – Karst springs feeding Arade River and Ibne Ammar caves with tide influences.

Portimão – Algar Seco: Miocene karst filled up by Pliocene sediments about to be dismantled by the sea. Landscape of towers and arches of Praia da Rocha beach.

Sagres – Sagres promontory and Saint Vincent Cape: mythic places of Portuguese discoveries. Praia do Telheiro: Unconformity of Triassic red sandstones over Carboniferous shales.

Return to Lisbon

Dinosaur tracks at Espichel cape

Tectonoseismic remnants in Zambujal cave

Almendres cromlech

Partial view of Monsaraz village, Alentejo

Relict morphology in cambrian limestone massif of Estremoz

Sagres cape wave-cut platform in Algarve

Coastal karren in Miocene limestones of Algarve

Unconformity of Triassic red sandstones over Carboniferous shales