Praia Rei Cortiço I: Landscape response to climate and sea level change on the central Portuguese coast since the last interglacial stage
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
Sediments exposed in coastal bluffs along the Estremadura coast of central Portugal record landscape response to climate and sea-level fluctuations during the last glacial-interglacial cycle. Exposures between the mouth of the Óbidos estuary and Peniche are especially significant because they contain: (i) one of the few Middle Paleolithic archaeological sites in a coastal setting on the Iberian Peninsula, (ii) the only significant pollen record in Portugal from the last interglacial period, (iii) evidence of a sea level high stand during isotope stage 5 or 3, and (iv) evidence of widespread upland erosion and fluvial sediment delivery to the coast during the last glacial maximum, followed by stabilization during the Holocene. At Praia Rei Cortiço, deposits dating between 101,000 and 5,000 years BP fill a paleovalley that represents a former arm of the Óbidos estuary. Archaeological evidence, including Levallois flakes that confirm Neanderthal occupation of the site, were recovered from the base of the section in a pebbly sand deposit that likely represents a floodplain or tidal flat. At the same stratigraphic level 200m south, a peat deposit contains paleobotanical evidence from a freshwater wetland. Charcoal samples from these deposits are beyond the limits of radiocarbon dating, but they are immediately overlain by a thin aeolian sand sheet dated by optically-stimulated luminescence to late isotope stage 5. The overlying section includes beach, fluvial, and aeolian facies. Sedimentological analyses and additional age control will provide additional paleogeographic context for interpreting this and other sites nearby.
