Geomorphological evolution of littoral platform from Porto Region (North of Portugal) : extended abstract

Abstract

The most outstanding aspect of the area between the mouth of river Ave and Espinho, in the geomorphological point of view, is the opposition between the littoral platform, where there are many outcrops of cenozoic deposits, and the "marginal relief" (figure 1) which is bordering it from inland. The main difficulty to establish the correlation of littoral platform deposits lies in the lack of chronological data from the sediments. This is particularly annoying in an area that is undergoing recent tectonic movements. To solve this difficulty, we made a sedimentological approach mainly based on grain size, morphoscopy, clay mineral and bedrock weathering. There are three main kinds of cenozoic sediments in this area.