M-04 – ARRÁBIDA MOUNTAIN AND ESPICHEL CAPE
Main organizer: Albino Medeiros (AIH-GP)
Co-organizer: Carlos Kulberg (UNL)
The "Serra da Arrábida" Natural Park, is located in the Arrábida Chain, that is an elongated mountain located on the southern border of the Setúbal Peninsula, about 40 kms south of Lisbon.
The Arrábida Chain is over 30 km long and 5 km broad, extending from Espichel Cape on the West, to Palmela castle on the East. Clearly detached from the surrounding areas, it’s a geomorphologic unit, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the South and West slopes and the Mio-Plio-Plistocenic sandy plain on the North and East slopes (under 100m over sea level). It reaches its maximum height at Formosinho (501m) and there are several summits over 300m. It corresponds to a well-delimited area of Mesozoic limestone rocks (200 to 100 million years old), uplifted from the more recent surrounding terrains. Its complex geomorphology resulted in a strong relief with steep slopes (nearly half of the area has slopes between 50 and 70%). Due to the strong relief, true soils profiles are almost absent for most of the Serra. Most of the area presents skeletal soils and in some spots, dark humid soils and "terra rossa" can accumulate.
The climate is clearly Mediterranean, with the dry season occurring in the summer and lasting about 4 months. The Emberger climagram enables the classification of Mediterranean bio climates of different sites in Arrábida as sub humid and humid bio climates with warm and hot winters. |
