Serra da Estrela Natural Park
The Serra da Estrela Natural Park (PNSE) is located in the interior of Portugal essentially in the district of Guarda (85%) and also in the district of Castelo Branco (15%). Marked by granite, shale and schist rock massifs and vestiges of ancient glaciers, the high altitude and location of the natural park make it one of the places in mainland Portugal with the highest occurrence of rain, snow, hail and dew.
Unlike the other Serras de Portugal, such as Penêda-Gerês, where the effects of glaciation have generated controversy for decades, the Serra da Estrela glacier shows a clear glacial geo-heritage, of high pedagogical and scientific significance. For example, the notable U-shaped Zêzere valley (GF32) has often been cited in national and international scientific publications and is an example of a glacial valley.
The glaciation style of Estrela is the result of its geographical location on the west bank of the Iberian Peninsula, being the first mountain to affect the interior movement of the moist Atlantic air masses, but also the plateau altitude between 1400 and 2000 m, range altitude, just above the altitude of the 1650 m paleoequilibrium (ELA) line
Glacier valley, consisting of four depressions (covões) excavated by the ice and located in step. They were former glacier lakes, now covered and covered by cervunais. The origin of this settlement is remote, as it had Roman, Sueva and Moorish occ...
The origin of this settlement is remote, as it had Roman, Sueva and Moorish occupation, with news of Castro. The very word "Loriga" means knitted skirt, made of leather straps used by medieval warriors. Its waters are abundant and descend down the...
In this flat, very humid and favorable to snowfall, was developed in the upper Pleistocene geological period, an ice cap stretching from north to Torre to the area of Curral Martins and Vale do Conde, located in a tectonic level below . The cap, w...
This Covão is a remain depression of a glacier. It is a poorly drained and a depressed area, in whose bottom has sediment accumulation, which make possible the development of woody vegetation. This depression is a Glacial Covão, which is about 200...
Former glacier depression, feed by the ice on top of Planalto da Torre
Highest point in mainland Portugal, where D. João VI (1816-1826) ordered the erection of a stone tower, to complement the 2000m. From this point, the view reaches culminating points, from the Serra da Boa Viagem in Buarcos, to the Serra de Gredos ...
A norte e a sul do Covão Cimeiro encontram-se os cântaros Gordo e Magro, duas elevações rochosas maciças e de escarpas verticais, cujos topos emergiam do glaciar na última glaciação. O entalhe dos vales foi essencialmente controlado pela maior den...
To the north and south of Covão Cimeiro are the Gordo and Magro pitchers, two massive rocky elevations and vertical escarpments, whose tops emerged from the glacier in the last glaciation. The groove in the valleys was essentially controlled by th...
Covão Cimeiro is an amphitheater with abrupt walls, with slopes that reach up to 300m. It is one of the most spectacular examples of the glacier circus of Serra da Estrela. It is an example of a glacier landscape, and its characteristic of being e...
Covão Cimeiro is an amphitheater with abrupt walls, with slopes that reach up to 300m. It is one of the most spectacular examples of the glacier circus of Serra da Estrela. It is an example of a glacier landscape, and its characteristic of being e...
In general, the covons in Serra da Estrela correspond to glacial basins of over-excavation, that is, they are depressed and poorly drained areas, in whose bottom, after the glacier retreat, sediments accumulated, which allowed the development of p...
On this flat surface, very humid and favorable to snowfall, a period of ice known as the Upper Plistocene (2 million to 20,000 years ago) developed between the Torre plateau and the Curral Matins area and Vale do Conde to the north. This cap, abo...
