Cabo da Roca () or Cape Roca is a cape which forms the westernmost point of the Sintra Mountain Range, of mainland

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, of continental

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, and of the Eurasian landmass. It is situated in the municipality of

Sintra Sintra (, ) is a town and municipality in the Greater Lisbon region of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The population of the municipality in 2011 was 377,835, in an area of . Sintra is one of the most urbanized and densely populat ...

, near Azóia, in the southwest of the district of Lisbon. Notably the point includes a lighthouse that started operation in 1772.

History

Cabo da Roca was known to the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

as ''Promontorium Magnum'' and during the Age of Sail as the Rock of Lisbon.

Lighthouse

Geography

Day picture of the shoreline at Cabo de Roca

The cape is within the

Sintra-Cascais Natural Park The Sintra-Cascais Natural Park is a park on the Portuguese Riviera, one of the 13 Natural Parks of Portugal. While only established in 1994 as a Natural Park by the Portuguese Government, it has been protected since 1981. Its area is approximate ...

, 42 kilometres west of the city of Lisbon and in the southwest of

. A location () is inscribed on a stone plaque, located on a monument at the site. The western coast is a mixture of sandy beaches and rocky cliff promontories: around Cabo da Roca, cliffs are more than 100 metres in height, and cut into crystalline rocks, composed of strongly folded and faulted sedimentary units. These forms are disturbed by dikes and small beaches. This promontory of "high" beaches is the extreme western immersion of the ancient eruptive Sintra massif, as evident from the rose-coloured

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

in the north and syenite of the Ribeira do Louriçal in the south. In the vicinity of the Cape, there are geomorphological examples of gabbro-

diorite Diorite ( ) is an intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma (molten rock) that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals. It is intermediate in composition between low-sili ...

, volcanic

breccia Breccia () is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or rocks cemented together by a fine-grained matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language, in which it means "rubble". A breccia may have a variety of ...

, and granite. Part of the granite formations show evidence of strong

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landwa ...

, while in other areas there are limestone deposits embedded in the granite. Much of the vegetation on this cape is low-lying and adapted to saltwater and windy conditions. Once home to a variety of plant life, Cabo da Roca has been overrun with the invasive plant species ''

Carpobrotus edulis ''Carpobrotus edulis'' is a ground-creeping plant with succulent leaves in the genus ''Carpobrotus'', native to South Africa. Its common names include hottentot-fig, sour fig, ice plant or highway ice plant. Description ''Carpobrotus edulis'' ...

''. This creeping, mat-forming plant, a member of the

Aizoaceae The Aizoaceae, or fig-marigold family, is a large family of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing 135 genera and about 1800 species. They are commonly known as ice plants or carpet weeds. They are often called vygies in South Africa and Ne ...

succulent family, was introduced as ground cover by local residents several decades ago, but now covers much of the arable land on Cabo da Roca. Many migratory and marine birds roost temporarily along the cliffs and protected coves of the coastal area.

Climate

The climate present at Cape Roca is extremely moderated by the ocean. Due to seasonal

upwelling Upwelling is an oceanographic phenomenon that involves wind-driven motion of dense, cooler, and usually nutrient-rich water from deep water towards the ocean surface. It replaces the warmer and usually nutrient-depleted surface water. The nut ...

, the area comprising the cape has cool, stable summers with little to no rainfall but very common occurrences of fog which boosts the humidity and decreases insolation. Summer is also the windiest season of the year with July and August averaging around . On the other hand, winters are rainy and have mild temperatures especially during the night, though the amount of precipitation received in this season is unparalleled with other places nearby such as the Sintra Mountains which can receive triple that precipitation. Due to the

seasonal lag Seasonal lag is the phenomenon whereby the date of maximum average air temperature at a geographical location on a planet is delayed until some time after the date of maximum insolation (i.e. the summer solstice). This also applies to the minim ...

, September is the warmest month.

External links

Panoramic view of Cabo da Roca

References

Notes

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cabo Da Roca Roca Extreme points of Earth Extreme points of Portugal Geography of Lisbon District Roca Sintra