A leap into the Jurassic
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A leap into the Jurassic

by Alessandro Righetti

Carbonate Succession from Jurassic are outcrops from the surrounded sediments in Baleal, West Portugal.
Here, a visible and clear stratification dated back to Toarcian (~175 Ma) and Aaleanian-Bajocian (~170 Ma). These successions formed in the Lusitanian Mesozoic Basin, West Portugal, that suffered opposite patterns of extension, during the Atlantic rifting stage, and consequently compression due to the Alpine Orogeny.
The tilting at ~45° suggests that tectonic probably shaped greatly this Western area. Still not clear if the formation of such outcrops were due to uplift during the compressional stage, or by sea-level rise, during the Toarcian, with consequent erosion of the softer rocks.