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| Lourinhã Group | |
|---|---|
| Name | Lourinhã Group |
| Period | Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous |
| Type | Geological group |
| Region | Lisbon District |
| Country | Portugal |
| Namedfor | Lourinhã |
| Subunits | Praia da Amoreira-Porto Novo Formation; Porto da Calada Formation; Montejunto Formation; Alcobaça Formation |
Lourinhã Group is a sequence of Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous sedimentary strata in western Portugal renowned for its fossil vertebrates and tracksites. The unit crops out around Lourinhã, Peniche, Torres Vedras, and the Estremadura Province, and has been central to research by institutions such as the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, the Museu da Lourinhã, and the Natural History Museum, London. The succession has been compared to contemporaneous European units like the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, the Portland Stone Formation, and the Weald Clay Formation, and attracts multidisciplinary studies involving paleontologists, sedimentologists, and stratigraphers from organizations such as the Sociedade Geológica de Portugal and the Paleontological Society.
The succession is lithostratigraphically subdivided into formations including the Praia da Amoreira-Porto Novo Formation, Porto da Calada Formation, Montejunto Formation, and Alcobaça Formation, and interfaces with the Gulval Formation-style coastal sequences and the Oxfordian to Berriasian chronostratigraphy. Regional mapping by the Serviço Geológico de Portugal and comparative work with the European Jurassic Basin framework place the group within the Lusitanian Basin, adjacent to structures like the São Julião fault and influenced by the Mesozoic rift history tied to the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean. Lithologies include fluvial sandstones, deltaic mudstones, shallow marine limestones, and tempestites comparable to those in the Solnhofen Limestone-type facies and the Oxford Clay Formation, with cyclic deposition interpreted through sequence stratigraphy used by researchers from the University of Coimbra and the Instituto Superior Técnico.
Facies analysis indicates a mosaic of coastal plain, estuarine, deltaic, and nearshore marine settings analogous to deposits studied at Poole Bay and the Somerset Basin. Paleosols, root traces, and channel fills show fluvial dynamics like those reconstructed for the Navajo Sandstone and the Cerro del Pueblo Formation; tidal rhythmites and bivalve assemblages link to estuarine models used by the Smithsonian Institution paleontologists. Proxies such as stable isotopes studied by teams at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and palynological data from the Museu Geológico support climatic inferences similar to Late Jurassic warm-temperate belts documented in comparisons with the Solnhofen and Tithonian records.
The group preserves a rich vertebrate assemblage including theropod, sauropod, ornithopod, stegosaurs, crocodylomorphs, chelonians, pterosaurs, and fishes, alongside invertebrates and plants. Notable taxa reported in the literature are early representatives related to Allosaurus, Torvosaurus, Lourinhanosaurus-affiliated theropods, sauropods comparable to Diplodocus, and ornithopods with affinities to Dryosaurus and Iguanodon. Marine units yield ammonites akin to Paraceras and belemnites comparable to Belemnites rostrata, while palynofloras include gymnosperms related to Cycadales and ferns seen in other Late Jurassic floras described by the Royal Society. Trace fossils include dinosaur track morphotypes paralleling those in the Hettangian to Barremian ichnological record curated at the Natural History Museum, London and reported by the International Commission on Stratigraphy-associated researchers.
Important finds include articulated dinosaur skeletons excavated by teams from the Museu da Lourinhã and the University of Lisbon, eggs and embryos comparable to discoveries at Auca Mahuevo, and pterosaur material analogous to genera described from Solnhofen and Santana Formation localities. Collaborative projects involving the Museu de História Natural da Universidade de Coimbra, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Museu Geológico have produced high-profile descriptions of taxa that informed debates in papers published by the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology and the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Tracksite studies coordinated with the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists revealed behaviorally informative assemblages similar to those from the La Rioja and Asturias basins, while taphonomic analyses referenced methods from the Field Museum and the Natural History Museum, London.
Biostratigraphic frameworks rely on ammonite zonation comparable to schemes used for the Tithonian and Berriasian stages and on magnetostratigraphy studies coordinated with the International Geomagnetic Reference Field timescale. Radiometric dates obtained from intercalated tuffs and comparisons with the Argon-Argon dating results from coeval strata like the Portland and Kimmeridgian sections help refine correlations with the English Weald and the Iberian Range. Palynological and microfossil datasets tied to chronostratigraphic markers published by the International Commission on Stratigraphy enable correlation across the Lusitanian Basin and with Mediterranean Jurassic-Cretaceous successions studied at institutions such as the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Pioneering geological surveys by figures affiliated with the Serviço Geológico de Portugal and early paleontological work by scholars at the Museu Geológico date from the 19th and early 20th centuries, with major expansions during the late 20th century driven by teams from the University of Lisbon, the German Research Foundation, and the National Geographic Society. Key contributors include researchers associated with the Museu da Lourinhã, visitors from the Natural History Museum, London, and collaborators from the Sorbonne and the University of Munich, who established excavation protocols, stratigraphic frameworks, and taxonomic descriptions that appeared in outlets like the Cretaceous Research and the Journal of Iberian Geology.
Beyond scientific value, the group intersects with coastal management administered by the Câmara Municipal de Lourinhã and the Portuguese Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage, influencing protections for paleontological sites similar to measures enacted for Dinosaur Provincial Park and La Rioja paleontological reserves. Fossil tourism tied to the Museu da Lourinhã and educational programs with the Universidade Nova de Lisboa generate local economic benefits while prompting conservation policies comparable to those overseen by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and heritage agencies in the European Union. Ongoing outreach and site stewardship coordinate with the Sociedade Geológica de Portugal and international partners to balance research, recreation, and preservation.
Category:Geologic groups of Europe Category:Jurassic geology of Portugal Category:Cretaceous geology of Portugal