Late Ordovician ice-marginal processes and sea-level change from the north Gondwana platform: Evidence from the Valongo Anticline (northern Portugal)

In the Valongo Anticline, northern Portugal, the Upper Ordovician-age Sobrido Formation records glacioeustatic sea-level changes and glacially-influenced depositional environments on the north Gondwana platform associated with the Hirnantian glaciation. New stratigraphic data from the Sobrido Formation, taking into account lateral facies variations not exposed in the type section, allow for a better understanding of Hirnantian glacial sedimentary processes, sea-level changes and palaeogeography. The lower member of the Sobrido Formation is composed of quartzites alternating with siltstones and mudstones. The transition to the upper member is most commonly an erosional contact marked by a ferruginous horizon. The lowermost part of the upper member contains a thinly laminated and rhythmically-bedded mudstone that is capped by a thin (mm-scale) shelly bed and overlain by massive diamictites. Laterally, conglomerate beds that have erosion bases are rhythmically interbedded with slates and diamictites that sometimes contain outsized mudstone clasts. The uppermost part of the upper member is very variable in thickness laterally and contains massive to laminated diamictite beds intercalated with quartzites, conglomerates and slates. Massive diamictites commonly exhibit thin horizons with Fe-oxides and occasionally manganese, phosphate and oolitic chamosite. The lower member of the Sobrido Formation is interpreted as ice-proximal outwash that is transitional laterally to subaqueous ice-contact fans formed by debris and mass flows. Erosion followed by chemical weathering of the lower member and variably within the lowermost part of the upper member is interpreted as a response to sea-level fluctuations and development of spatially-variable anoxic conditions and groundwater migration within isolated marine basins. Facies within the upper member of the Sobrido Formation are interpreted as ice-distal (laminated diamictites) and ice-proximal deposits (massive diamictites, quartzites and conglomerates). Groove casts and hummocky cross-stratification within quartzite beds suggest deposition in a shallow shelf setting. The Upper Ordovician–Lower Silurian transition is locally marked by a ferruginous horizon. Black basal quartzites are interpreted to record development of an erosional unconformity during Silurian sea-level rise. In other areas a chloritoid layer indicates proximity to dry land. These palaeoenvironmental interpretations suggest dynamic changes in sedimentary and geochemical processes in response to sea level and related palaeogeographic changes during the Upper Ordovician and transitional to the Lower Silurian on the north Gondwana platform.

► Sobrido Formation contains the record of glacially-influenced sedimentary processes.
► Land sediment supply resulted in diamictites intercalated with mudstones.
► Conglomerates internally sorted interbedded with slates represent ice-contact fans.
► Periods of land surface exposure are marked by ferruginous crusts.
► New perspective on Late Ordovician palaeogeography of the north Gondwana platform.