The Zêzere valley is a perfect example of glacial erosion. With a U-shaped cross-section profile along 10 km, between Covão da Ametade and the town of Manteigas, the valley presents in its upstream sector a succession of overdeepenings, riegels and hanging valleys, as well as several types of glacial, fluvioglacial and slope deposits. At the maximum of the last glaciation, the ice thickness reached 340 meters close to the Covão da Albergaria, fed by the ice-field of the Torre Plateau. A little further downstream, the Zêzere valley was also fed by glaciers from the hanging valleys of Candeeira and Covões. The shape of the present valley and its rectilinear character are a result of erosion processes favoured by the the Bragança-Vilariça-Manteigas-Unhais da Serra fault tectonic lineament.
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