Central Iberian Zone
The Central Iberian Zone covers the middle part of the west side of the peninsula, including north and central Portugal. The top north west corner has been replaced with the Galicia-Tras-Os-Montes Zone. The constituent rocks are metamorphosed sediments.
The oldest rocks are Proterozoic, metamorphosed sediments. They have been deformed by the Cadomian Orogeny. There are volcanics and further sediments from the end of the Ediacaran and Cambrian periods.
Before the Carboniferous this was deformed in a north east direction with thrusts and folds.
The oldest rocks are from the Cambrian, possibly the Precambrian, and are orthogneiss and paragneiss. These are found near Foz do Douro, and Miranda do Douro. Above this are schists or shales with beds of turbidites or limestone interleaved. The stratigraphic sequence can be observed south west of Salamanca in the Tamames Syncline, and in the Montes de Toledo. These are followed by an unconformity. Above the unconformity can be found reddish sandstone, shale and conglomerate of Tremadocian age up to 1 km thick. An Arenigian age quartzite formation is equivalent to the Amorican Quartzite. Then there is black shale or slate matching the Luarca Slate of Llanvirn to Llandeilo Age. On top of this is the Botella or Cantera Quartzite, 0.1 km thick of Llandeilian to Caradocian Age.
Above this is a lenticular limestone called Urbana Limestone and shale and sandstone of Caradocian to Asghilian Age. Then comes the Criadero Quartzite in the Almaden area at the base of the Silurian Period. Black graptolytic shale and basic volcanic rocks overlay this.
Granite appeared with the Variscan Orogeny.
Devonian age terrigenous deposits up to 2 km thick occur in the south of the zone. There is a large amount of volcanic rock in the Almaden Syncline.
The lower Carboniferous has a flysch facies along the southern boundary of the zone, and also in the San Vitero area and around the Morais and Bragança Massifs.
Read more about this topic: Geology Of The Iberian Peninsula
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