South Portuguese Zone
The South Portuguese Zone (SPZ) is an exotic terrane coming from a different continent to the more northern parts of the Iberian Plate. Prior to 380 Ma the SPZ was part of the Laurasia and attached next to what later became the Grand Banks. This continent was actually to the north of Iberia, which in turn was part of the European Hunic Terrane (EHT). At 380 Ma SPZ impacted the EHT between allochthonous units of the Galicia-Tras-Os-Montes Zone and Meseta. At about 320 Ma, the SPZ again headed south sliding past the west side of the Ossa Morena Zone.
The South Portuguese Zone now forms a thin triangle on the south end of Portugal. Only rocks from the Upper Devonian to Carboniferous are found in the south Portuguese Zone. The Late Devonian is represented by phyllite and quartzite beds with graded bedding. Volcanic rocks from Tournaisian and Lower Visean contain manganese, zinc and pyrite ores. This is known as the Iberian Pyrite Belt. This is the remains of seafloor hydrothermal vents. The majority of the zone is covered by Late Visean turbidite sequences several kilometres thick.
Mines in the pyrite belt area include Neves-Corvo mine in Portugal, Rio Tinto which has been mined for 2000 years, Aguas Teñidas, Las Cruces mine, Los Frailes.
The Via Basin existed on the northeast edge in Permian times.
Read more about this topic: Geology Of The Iberian Peninsula
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