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1.
—The Rif belt forms with the Betic Cordilleras an asymmetric arcuate mountain belt (Gibraltar Arc) around the Alboran Sea, at the western tip of the Alpine orogen. The Gibraltar Arc consists of an exotic terrane (Alboran Terrane) thrust over the African and Iberian margins. The Alboran Terrane itself includes stacked nappes which originate from an easterly, Alboran-Kabylias-Peloritani-Calabria (Alkapeca) continental domain, and displays Variscan low-grade and high-grade schists (Ghomarides-Malaguides and Sebtides-Alpujarrides, respectively), shallow water Mesozoic sediments (mainly in the Dorsale Calcaire passive margin units), and infracontinental peridotite slices (Beni Bousera, Ronda). During the Late Cretaceous?-Eocene, the Alboran Terrane was likely located south of a SE-dipping Alpine-Betic subduction (cf. Nevado-Filabride HP-LT metamorphism of central-eastern Betics). An incipient collision against Iberia triggered back-thrust tectonics south of the deformed terrane during the Late Eocene-Oligocene, and the onset of the NW-dipping Apenninic-Maghrebian subduction. The early, HP-LT phase of the Sebtide-Alpujarride metamorphism could be hypothetically referred to the Alpine-Betic subduction, or alternatively to the Apenninic-Maghrebian subduction, depending on the interpretation of the geochronologic data set. Both subduction zones merged during the Early Miocene west of the Alboran Terrane and formed a triple junction with the Azores-Gibraltar transform fault. A westward roll back of the N-trending subduction segment was responsible for the Neogene rifting of the internal Alboran Terrane, and for its coeval, oblique docking onto the African and Iberian margins. Seismic evidence of active E-dipping subduction, and opposite paleomagnetic rotations in the Rif and Betic limbs of the Gibraltar Arc support this structurally-based scenario.  相似文献   

2.
We present GPS observations in Morocco and adjacent areas of Spain from 15 continuous (CGPS) and 31 survey-mode (SGPS) sites extending from the stable part of the Nubian plate to central Spain. We determine a robust velocity field for the W Mediterranean that we use to constrain models for the Iberia-Nubia plate boundary. South of the High Atlas Mountain system, GPS motions are consistent with Nubia plate motions from prior geodetic studies. We constrain shortening in the Atlas system to <1.5 mm/yr, 95% confidence level. North of the Atlas Mountains, the GPS velocities indicate Nubia motion with respect to Eurasia, but also a component of motion normal to the direction of Nubia-Eurasia motion, consisting of southward translation of the Rif Mountains in N Morocco at rates exceeding 5 mm/yr. This southward motion appears to be directly related to Miocene opening of the Alboran Sea. The Betic Mountain system north of the Alboran Sea is characterized by WNW motion with respect to Eurasia at ～1–2 mm/yr, paralleling Nubia-Eurasia relative motion. In addition, sites located in the Betics north of the southerly moving Rif Mountains also indicate a component of southerly motion with respect to Eurasia. We interpret this as indicating that deformation associated with Nubia-Eurasia plate motion extends into the southern Betics, but also that the Betic system may be affected by the same processes that are causing southward motion of the Rif Mountains south of the Alboran Sea. Kinematic modeling indicates that plate boundary geometries that include a boundary through the Straits of Gibraltar are most compatible with the component of motion in the direction of relative plate motion, but that two additional blocks (Alboran-Rif block, Betic Mountain block), independent of both Nubia and Eurasia are needed to account for the motions of the Rif and Betic Mountains normal to the direction of relative plate motion. We speculate that the southward motions of the Alboran-Rif and Betic blocks may be related to mantle flow, possibly induced by southward rollback of the subducted Nubian plate beneath the Alboran Sea and Rif Mountains.  相似文献   

3.
The presence of continuous upper crustal blocks between the Iberian Betics and Moroccan Rif in the western and middle Alboran Sea, detected with tomography, can add new information about the lithosphere structure and geodynamic evolution in this region. A large volume of seismic data (P and S wave arrival times) has been collected for the period between 1 December 1988 and 31 December 2008 by 57 stations located in northern Morocco (National Institute of Geophysics, CNRST, Rabat), southern Portugal (Instituto de Meteorologia, Lisbon) and Spain (Instituto Geografico National, Madrid) and used to investigate the lithosphere in the western Alboran Sea region. We use a linearized inversion procedure comprising two steps: (1) finding the minimal 1-D model and simultaneous relocation of hypocenters and (2) determination of local velocity structure using linearized inversion. The model parameterization in this method assumes a continuous velocity field. The resolution tests indicate that the calculated images give near true structure imaged at 5 km depth for the Tanger peninsula, the Alhoceima region and southern Spain. At 15, 30 and 45 km depth we observe a near true structure imaged in northern Morocco, and southern Spain. At 60 and 100 km, southern Spain and the SW region of the Alboran Sea give a near true structure. The resulting tomographic image shows the presence of two upper crustal bodies (velocity 6.5 km/s) at 5–10 km depth between the Betics, Rif, western and central Alboran Sea. Low velocities at the base of these two bodies favor the presence of melt. This new evidence proves that the Tethysian ocean upper crust was not totally collapsed or broken down during the late Oligocene–early Miocene. These two blocks of upper crust were initially one block. The geodynamic process in the eastern of the Mediterranean is driven by slab rollback. The delamination process of the lithospheric mantle terminates with the proposed slab rollback in the western part of the Mediterranean. This can be explained by the removal of the major part of the lithosphere beneath the area, except in the SW part of the Alboran Sea where a small part of the lithospheric mantle is still attached and is extends and dips to SE beneath the Rif, slowly peeled back to the west. A second detached lithospheric mantle is located and extends to eastern part of the Rif and dips to the SE. The removal of lithosphere mantle from the base of the crust was replaced and heated by extrusion of asthenospheric material coming from depth to replace the part of crust detached. A combination of isostatic surface/topographic uplift and erosion induced a rapid exhumation and cooling of deep crustal rocks.  相似文献   

4.
Travel times of 11,612 Pn arrivals collected from 7675 earthquakes are inverted to image the uppermost mantle velocity and anisotropy structure beneath the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula and surrounding regions. Pn phases are routinely identified and picked for epicentral distances from 200 to 1200 km. The method used in this study allows simultaneous imaging of variations of Pn velocity and anisotropy. The results show an average uppermost mantle velocity beneath the study area of 8.0 km/s. The peninsular area covered by the Iberian massif is characterized by high Pn velocity, as expected in tectonically stable regions, indicating areas of the Hercynian belt that have not recently been reactivated. The margins of the Iberian Peninsula have undergone a great number of recent tectonic events and are characterized by a pronouncedly low Pn velocity, as is common in areas greatly affected by recent tectonic and magmatic activity. Our model indicates that the Betic crustal root might be underlined by a negative anomaly beneath the southeastern Iberian Peninsula. In the Atlantic Ocean, we find a sharp variation in the uppermost mantle velocities that coincides with the structural complexity of the European and African plate boundary in the Gulf of Cadiz. Our results show a very pronounced low-velocity anomaly offshore from Cape San Vicente whereas high velocities are distributed along the coast in the Gulf of Cadiz. In the Alboran Sea and northern Morocco, the direction of the fastest Pn velocity found is almost parallel to the Africa–Eurasia plate convergence vector (northwest–southeast) whereas to the north, this direction is almost parallel to the main trend of the Betic Cordillera, i.e. east–west in its central part and north–south in the curvature of the Arc of Gibraltar. This suggests that a significant portion of the uppermost mantle has been involved in the orogenic deformation that produced the arcuate structure of the Betic Cordillera. However, we assume that the Neogene extension had no major influence on a lithospheric scale in the Alboran Sea. Our results also show a quite complex pattern of anisotropy in the southwest Iberian lithospheric mantle since the relationship between the direction of fastest Pn velocity and major Hercynian tectonic trends cannot be directly established.  相似文献   

5.
The goal of this paper is to study the velocity field and deformation parameters in Southern Spain and surrounding areas (Ibero-Maghrebian region) using GPS episodic measurements. Results are compared to those previously published as well as deformation parameters derived from seismic data. For this purpose, a geodetic GPS network of 12 stations was observed during eight field campaigns from 1998 to 2005 by the San Fernando Naval Observatory (ROA), Spain. Relative GPS velocities in the Gulf of Cadiz with respect to the stable part of Eurasia are ～4.1 mm/yr in a NW–SE to NNW–SSE direction. In the Betics, Alboran Sea and North of Morocco, velocities are ～4.4 mm/yr in a NW–SE direction, and they are ～2.3 mm/yr in a N–S direction in the eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula. These results are in agreement with the anticlockwise rotation of the African plate. GPS strain tensors are determined from the velocity model, to obtain a more realistic crustal deformation model. The Gulf of Cadiz is subjected to uniform horizontal compression in a NNW–SSE direction, with a rotation to N–S in the Alboran Sea and Northern Morocco. An extensional regime in a NW–SE direction, which rotates to W–E, is present in the Internal Betics area. In the Betic, Alboran Sea and North of Morocco regions we compare seismic deformation rates from shallow earthquakes with the determined GPS deformation rates. The comparison indicates a seismic coupling of 27%, while the remaining 73% might be generated in aseismic processes. Deformations measured in the Ibero-Maghrebian region with GPS could be interpreted in terms of either elastic loading or ductile deformation.  相似文献   

6.
We present a new set of brittle microtectonic measurements carried out in the Pliocene and Quaternary rocks outcropping in several key sectors of the western Betic and Rif orogen, the so-called Gibraltar orogenic arc. This data set, along with available earthquake focal mechanisms and borehole breakouts, allowed us to compile the Pliocene and Quaternary stress map of this area. This map provides new constraints for tectonic models and the present-day tectonic activity of the proposed active eastward subduction of oceanic lithosphere beneath the Gibraltar Arc and roll-back. The horizontal maximum compressive stress (SHmax) is NW-SE in the Betic Orogen and N-S/NNW-SSE in the southern Rif Cordillera. There is a significant consistency between SHmax and the displacement field deduced from GPS measurements with respect to the African plate: both appear to reflect the NW-SE convergence between the African and the European plates that is perturbed in the Rif. We propose that part of the eastern Rif behaves as a quasi-rigid block welded to the stable African plate. This block is bounded by important faults that localized most of the deformation disturbing the stress and surface displacement field. Pliocene to Quaternary N-S to NW-SE Africa-Europe plate convergence seem to be associated to the reorganization of the remnant Early Miocene subduction system in a continental–continental collision framework. Three-dimensional reconstruction of available seismic tomography plotted against the intermediate seismicity shows that only part of the old subduction system, whose orientation ranges from N20°E to N100°E, remains active: the portion ranging from N30°E to N40°E, orthogonal to the regional convergence.  相似文献   

7.
— A seismic data file of 3,740 earthquakes from January 1987 to December 1994 has been elaborated for Morocco and the border regions, with 10 main events registering magnitudes from 5 to 5.6. Such seismicity is particularly important for Morocco as the released seismic energy constitutes a considerable part of the total energy radiated during the 20th century. Relative seismicity maps confirm the persistence of the major features of the seismicity of Morocco. An important seismic activity is observed in the Alboran region continental crust, which absorbs the maximum deformation resulting from the convergence of the African and Iberian plates. However, in the longitude window 3.5°– 6° W at depths of 25 to 50 km, a seismic gap zone seems to take place. An explanation of this phenomenon may be provided by the slab breakoff model. Even if the seismicity of Morocco remains moderate, heavy damage is observed when the magnitude of earthquakes exceeds 4.5, especially in the case of traditional buildings.  相似文献   

8.
In September 1974, deep seismic sounding experiments were performed in the Alboran Sea. The crustal seismic profiles were carried out with shotpoints at sea along approximately the 36°N parallel and along 3°W and 5°W meridians with stations on land in Morocco and Spain following these three directions. The first interpretation of the data indicates a thinned continental crust with a Moho depth of 16 km on top of a slightly anomalous upper mantle (7.5<V p<7.9 km/s) beneath the center of the Alboran Sea. Towards Spain the transition to the continental margin is characterized by a very rapid thickening of the crust. Towards Morocco a rather abrupt thickening is observed only for the Rif region, while in the eastern part (north-south profile along 3°W) the dip of the Moho is very slight.  相似文献   

9.
A crustal tomographic image, from the surface down to 35 km depth beneath the Betic Cordillera (southern Spain), is obtained using data on local earthquakes recorded at stations from the National and Andalusian Seismic Networks. The velocity structure and the hypocentre locations are derived from the inversion of P first arrival times, using an iterative simultaneous inversion method. The reliability of the results is assessed using different control parameters. The inverted velocity field in the uppermost layers shows a significant lateral variability which reflects most of the large-scale geological features of the Betic Cordillera. Well determined local surface anomalies allow to constrain the location and geometry of the most prominent Neogene sedimentary basins. The upper crust is well resolved throughout the whole region, and is characterized by relatively high velocities in the Internal Betics and in the South Iberian Massif and lower velocities within the External Betics. A relatively well constrained event cluster displays a NNE–SSW trend, and outlines the contact zone between the Internal and the External domains. The middle and lower crustal levels show reliable results beneath the central part of the Betic Cordillera. High averaged velocities are obtained within the South Iberian and the Alboran domains, in contrast to a relatively low velocity anomaly which characterizes the boundary between them. These findings support the hypothesis of the lack of well differentiated crustal levels below the contact zone, while crustal layering is better defined beneath the Alboran and the Iberian domains.  相似文献   

10.
Located on the margin of the west Alboran basin, the Gibraltar Arc (Betic-Rif mountain belt) displays post-Pliocene vertical movements evidenced by uplifted marine sedimentary basins and marine terraces. Quantification of vertical movements is an important clue to understand the origin of present-day relief generation in the Betic-Rif mountain chain together with the causes of the Messinian Salinity Crisis. In this paper, we present the results of a pluridisciplinary study combining an analysis of low temperature thermochronology and Pliocene basins evolution to constrain the exhumation history and surface uplift of internals units of the Rif belt (Northern Morocco). The mean (U-Th)/He apatite ages obtained from 11 samples are comprised between 14.1 and 17.8 Ma and display a wide dispersion, which could be explained by a great variability of apatite chemistries in the analyzed samples. No correlations between altitude and age have been found along altitudinal profile suggesting a rapid exhumation during this period. Thermal modeling using our (U-Th)/He apatite ages and geochronological data previously obtained in the same area (40Ar/39Ar and K/Ar data on biotite, zircon and apatite fission track) allow us to propose a cooling history. The rocks suffered a rapid cooling at 60–100 °C/Ma between 22.5 and 19 Ma, then cooled to temperatures around 40 °C between 19 and 18 Ma. They were re-heated at around 110 °C between 18 and 15 Ma then rapidly cooled and exhumed to reach the surface temperature at around 13 Ma. The re-heating could be related to a renewal in thrusting and burying of the inner zones. Between 15 and 13 Ma the cooling resumed at a rate of 50 °C/Ma indicating an exhumation rate of 0.8 mm/y considering an average 40 °C/km geothermal gradient. This exhumation may be linked to the extension in the Alboran Sea. Otherwise biostratigraphic and sedimentological analysis of Pliocene basins of the internal Rif provided informations on the more recent events and vertical movements. Pliocene deposits of the Rifian coast represent the passive infilling of palaeo-rias between 5.33 and 3.8 Ma. The whole coastal area was uplifted at slow average rates (0.01–0.03 mm/y) in relation with a northeastward tilting of 0.2–0.3° since the Lower-Pliocene. A late Pliocene to present extensional tectonics associated to uplift has been identified all along the coastal ranges of the Internal Zone of the Rif chain. This extension was coeval with the major late Pliocene to Pleistocene extensional episode of the Alboran Sea and appears to be still active nowadays. No significant late Messinian uplift was evidenced, thus calling into question the geodynamic models relating the closure of the marine gateways and the MSC to slab roll back.  相似文献   

11.
—The presence of anisotropy beneath the Iberian Peninsula and its main distinctive features can be established through the analysis of teleseismic shear-wave splitting observed in the ILIHA-NARS experiment. In this experiment, an homogeneous data set is provided by a network of 14 broad-band stations deployed over the entire peninsula for about one year. Even if technical problems led to an amount of data smaller than expected, significant variations in the inferred fast velocity direction are observed for stations located in different Iberian domains. The stations in Central and East Iberia show a fast velocity direction oriented roughly E–W, coincident with previous results in Toledo. A clearly different NE–SW direction is observed in the Ossa-Morena zone, supporting the image from a previous regional experiment. The observed delay times lie between 0.5 and 1 s. Although large-scale mechanisms, such as the absolute plate motion of Eurasia, can be invoked to explain the origin of anisotropic features in many sites, the regional variations observed in some domains imply that differentiated origins of the anisotropy have to be considered, probably related to the particular tectonics in the area. An interesting example of this fact is provided by the stations in the Betic chain; the fast velocity direction inferred for a station located in the limit of the External Betics (South Iberian domain), oriented N80°E, is clearly different from the N15–35°E direction observed in the Internal Betics (Alboran crustal domain), the origin of which has to be related to the Alpine building of the chain.  相似文献   

12.
Within the Spain and Moroccan networks, a large volume of seismic data has been collected and used for investigating the lithosphere in the Betic–Rif Cordillera. The present study has two main goals: (1) Use the most actual seismological data from recent earthquakes in the Betic–Rif arc for investigating the lithosphere through the application of seismic local tomography techniques. (2) Define the possible structural blocks and explain the GPS velocities perturbation in this region. The resolution tests results indicate that the calculated images gave a close true structure for the studied regions from 5- to 60-km depth. The resulting tomographic image shows that the presence of two upper crust body (velocity 6.5 km/s) at 3- to 13-km depth between Iberian Betic and Moroccan Rif in the western and in the middle of Alboran Sea also shows the low velocity favoring the presence of melt in the base of these two bodies. The crustal bodies forms tectonic blocks in the Central Rif and in the Central Betic Cordillera.  相似文献   

13.
The ecohydrodynamics of the Gibraltar Strait and the Western Alboran Sea is investigated using a 3-D, two-way nested, coupled hydrodynamic/plankton ecosystem model, exploiting the MEDATLAS climatological database. A high-resolution model (~1 km) of the Gibraltar/Western Alboran region embedded within a coarse-resolution model of the West Mediterranean (~5 km) is implemented. The model seasonal climatology of the 3-D circulation and the flow characteristics at the Gibraltar Strait and the Alboran Sea are discussed, and their impact on the plankton ecosystem evolution is explored. An important ecohydrodynamic feature produced by the model is a permanent upwelling zone in the northwestern part of the Alboran Sea in agreement with observations. Model results show that both horizontal and vertical current intensity of the Atlantic Jet increases progressively at the strait to obtain maximum values in the northeastern Mediterranean entrance, inducing an upward displacement of the nitracline. The nutrient-rich water transport through the strait along with the generation of cyclonic vorticity in the northwestern Alboran Sea result in the accumulation of nutrients there and thus induce a permanent fertilisation of this area.  相似文献   

14.
—The plate boundary between Iberia and Africa has been studied using data on seismicity and focal mechanisms. The region has been divided into three areas: A; the Gulf of Cadiz; B, the Betics, Alboran Sea and northern Morocco; and C, Algeria. Seismicity shows a complex behavior, large shallow earthquakes (h < 30 km) occur in areas A and C and moderate shocks in area B; intermediate-depth activity (30 < h < 150 km) is located in area B; the depth earthquakes (h 650 km) are located to the south of Granada. Moment rate, slip velocity and b values have been estimated for shallow shocks, and show similar characteristics for the Gulf of Cadiz and Algeria, and quite different ones for the central region. Focal mechanisms of 80 selected shallow earthquakes (8 mb 4) show thrust faulting in the Gulf of Cadiz and Algeria with horizontal NNW-SSE compression, and normal faulting in the Alboran Sea with E-W extension. Focal mechanisms of 26 intermediate-depth earthquakes in the Alboran Sea display vertical motions, with a predominant plane trending E-W. Solutions for very deep shocks correspond to vertical dip-slip along N-S trends. Frohlich diagrams and seismic moment tensors show different behavior in the Gulf of Cadiz, Betic-Alboran Sea and northern Morocco, and northern Algeria for shallow events. The stress pattern of intermediate-depth and very deep earthquakes has different directions: vertical extension in the NW-SE direction for intermediate depth earthquakes, and tension and pressure axes dipping about 45 ° for very deep earthquakes. Regional stress pattern may result from the collision between the African plate and Iberia, with extension and subduction of lithospheric material in the Alboran Sea at intermediate depth. The very deep seismicity may be correlated with older subduction processes.  相似文献   

15.
New paleomagnetic results from Neogene sedimentary sequences from the Betic chain (Spain) are here presented. Sedimentary basins located in different areas were selected in order to obtain paleomagnetic data from structural domains that experienced different tectonic evolution during the Neogene. Whereas no rotations have been evidenced in the Late Tortonian sediments in the Guadalquivir foreland basin, clockwise vertical axis rotations have been measured in sedimentary basins located in the central part of the Betics: the Aquitanian to Messinian sediments in the Alcalà la Real basin and the Tortonian and Messinian sediments in the Granada basin. Moreover, counterclockwise vertical axis rotations, associated to left lateral strike-slip faults have been locally measured from sedimetary basins in the eastern Betics: the Middle Miocene to Lower Pliocene sites from the Lorca and Vera basins and, locally, the Tortonian units of the Huercal-Overa basin. Our results show that, conversely from what was believed up to now, paleomagnetic rotations continued in the Betics after Late Miocene, enhancing the role of vertical axis rotations in the recent tectonic evolution of the Gibraltar Arc.  相似文献   

16.
Major tectonic units of Spain have been investigated by deep seismic sounding experiments since 1974 to determine crustal structures and to delineate their differences. These areas are the central part of the Hercynian Meseta, and the Alpine chains: the Betic Cordillera in the south, including the Balearic promontory and the Alboran Sea, and the Pyrenees in the north.The main features of the crust and the upper mantle along a NNE-SSW cross-section from the Pyrenees to the Alboran Sea are described.The crust under the Meseta is typical of Hercynian areas found elsewhere in Europe, with an average thickness of 31 km, whereas the two Alpine regions are characterized by very large lateral inhomogeneities, such as rapid thickening of the crust to 50 and 40 km under the Pyrenees and the Betics, respectively. The deep-reaching E-W-trending North Pyrenean fault has a throw of 10–15 km at the base of the crust. A Pn velocity of 8.1 km s?1 is found under the entire Iberian Peninsula.In the Alboran Sea, strongly varying thicknesses of sediments, shallow variable depths to the Moho (～ 13 km under the Alboran ridge), and strong variations of Pn velocity between 7.5 and 8.2 km s?1 have been found.  相似文献   

17.
Seismicity of the Ibero-Maghrebian region includes the occurrence of shallow, intermediate depth, and very deep earthquakes. This is a very rare occurrence for a region not associated to an active subduction zone. Detailed studies of the source mechanism of these three types of earthquakes have been made possible through the collaboration with Prof. Madariaga. They give important information about the complex tectonic of the region. Shallow earthquakes at the west and east ends of the region have predominant reverse faulting with NW-SE trending horizontal pressure axes. The center part is the most tectonically complex. At the Strait of Gibraltar, there is a change on focal mechanisms from reverse faulting to strike-slip motion in northern Morocco, conserving the horizontal compression on NW-SE direction. In the Alboran Sea, mechanisms are of normal faulting with E-W trending horizontal tension axes, and in south Spain, mechanisms are of mixed solutions. The intermediate depth earthquakes (40–130 km) are located at both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar, at the western part distributed in E-W direction. The most important concentration, however, is located at the east of Gibraltar in a N-S trending thin vertical body and has different mechanisms. The very deep earthquakes (650 km) are concentrated at a small volume, and their mechanism corresponds to N-S vertical planes or horizontal ones. A tectonic model for the region is presented to explain the shallow, intermediate, and deep earthquakes.  相似文献   

18.
In the peripheral basins of the Alboran Sea, five stratigraphic units (latest Messinian-Pliocene) separated by discontinuities and representing transgressive–regressive cycles have been recognized. The first unit (LM) is latest Messinian in age and precisely characterizes the Lago-Mare event at the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis, i.e. just before the opening of the Strait of Gibraltar at the beginning of the Pliocene. The three following units (Pl-1, Pl-2 and Pl-3) are Zanclean in age, whereas the last one (Pl-4) is Piacenzian. These four Pliocene units consist of alluvial, deltaic, and littoral deposits in the marginal areas, changing to open marine deposits with planktonic components in the basinal areas, although their extension varies in each basin. Regionally, these units do not necessarily stack in a single stratigraphic succession because of tectonics that controlled their hosting basins. Thus, the LM and Pl-1 units occur only in the Malaga and Estepona-Marbella basins, revealing that the onset of the sedimentation after the Messinian evaporitic stage and the Pliocene transgression was not a single and synchronous event in the western Alboran Sea. Moreover, the Pl-3 and Pl-4 units do not appear in all basins, so that the subsequent continentalization process of these Alboran peripheral areas during the Pliocene was also diachronous.The sedimentary evolution of the peripheral basins was controlled mainly by tectonics. During the latest Messinian-early Pliocene, the sedimentation took place in a context marked by a NNW–SSE compression and ENE–WSW perpendicular tension. The onset of the sedimentation (LM and Pl-1 units) could be linked to preexisting E–W faults that mark part of the borders of the Malaga basin and the Estepona-Marbella sector. During the deposition of the Pl-2 unit, the movements of E–W, NW–SE, and NE–SW normal faults determined a continuous subsidence in several basins, resulting in the accumulation of thick clastic marine sequences (i.e. Malaga, Vélez-Málaga, and Nerja basins in Spain and Tirinesse basin in Morocco). Tectonic activity during the early Zanclean leads to a new paleogeographic configuration of the Alboran peripheral areas. The main features are: (i) continentalization of the Nerja sector in the Betics, Tetouan, and Oued Laou-Tirinesse sectors in the Rif; (ii) on the contrary, a period of intense subsidence started in the coastal sectors between Torremolinos and Manilva, allowing the development of the Pl-3 unit directly on the substratum; and (iii) the Malaga, Vélez-Málaga, and Malalyine basins maintained the marine regime, so their sedimentary infilling recorded the Pl-2–Pl-3 unconformity. Nevertheless, these last basins emerged shortly afterwards, before the end of the early Zanclean (FO of Globorotalia puncticulata), probably in relation to the beginning of the sea-level fall which characterizes the upper part of the TB 3.4 cycle by Haq et al. (1987).During the late Zanclean, sedimentation occurred only in the Betic basins, where NNE–SSW faults – conjugated with NW–SE faults – induced a major subsidence, permitting better development of the Pl-3 unit. On the contrary, NW–SE faults in the sector between Malaga and Nerja, and NE–SW faults in the Tirinesse basin, became practically inactive. Before the end of the Zanclean, the subsidence ceased also in the westernmost Betic basins, thus causing emersion, firstly in the sector between Torremolinos and Manilva and, slightly later, in the San Roque-Algeciras sector. Thus, the whole geodynamic activity conditioned the time–space evolution of the northern edge of the Alboran Sea, which was emerging throughout the Zanclean, successively from the E to the W. A similar E to W continentalization trend can be suggested for the Rifian Pliocene sectors when taking into account the Oued Laou-Tirinesse basins that emerged before the Malalyine one.Moreover, the unit boundaries do not coincide with those of the familiar Exxon coastal aggradational curve, but rather with the local or regional tectonic activity. Consequently, the correlation of the unit boundaries with those of the Pliocene deposits of the eastern Betic basins remains difficult. According to the biostratigraphical data, the Pl-1, Pl-2, and Pl-3 units correspond to the Pliocene-I by Montenat (1990), while the Pl-4 unit may be equivalent to the Pliocene-II.  相似文献   

19.
Many authors have explained the Gibraltar arc in various manners. It is our purpose to set up an explanation which takes into account the recent geological discoveries about the Geology of this region, and the concept of Plate Tectonics. Stratigraphic, metamorphic and structural arguments support the fundamental opposition between internal and external zones in the Betic-Rif mountain system. Internal zones, clearly showing an arcuate structure, were built before Miocene. External zones, on the contrary, were folded mainly during Middle Miocene. Both zones have been involved in important shortening (with strike-slip faulting) just before Messinian (late Miocene). Taking into account the later deformations, we can assume that the internal zones constituted, at the beginning of the Miocene, the sub-plate of Alboran, which separated, eastwards from the Azores transform-fault, the European and African plates. According to this model, we can suppose the Alboran sub-plate to be fixed, whereas the European and African plates move eastwards. So, tectonic structures oblique to the direction of drift, like folds and thrusts along a transcurrent-fault, appear along the north-western and south-western margins of the Alboran sub-plate; along its western margin, N-S structures form, thrusting towards the west. Our geometrical model is able to account for peculiar and unexplained structures of this region. Because of its simplicity, we are conscious of the limits of our explanation, but it seems to us to be a valuable working hypothesis, which needs further geophysical and geological tests.  相似文献   

20.
Maps of the main structures and the degree of geothermal studies of the Azores-Gibraltar and Iceland regions are constructed. Computer modeling of the coefficient of velocity of thermal subsidence into the asthenosphere of the Azores segment of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is performed. According to the results of modeling, this velocity exceeds the mean velocity of thermal subsidence of the mid-ocean ridges of the world ocean by a factor of ∼ 1.5. The high velocity of subsidence of the Azores segment of the ridge is caused by the influence of the hot substance of the plume on the process of subsidence. The distributions of the heat flow in the Horseshoe basin, Alboran Sea, and southern part of the Iberian Peninsula are analyzed. A zone of increased heat flow and seismicity, extending from the Madeira-Torre Ridge through the Horseshoe basin, and farther to the east through the southern parts of Spain and France, is identified for the first time. The identified geothermal zone marks the northern branch of the diffuse boundary between the Eurasian and African plates. In the region of the Alpine chain, this zone joins the southern boundary between the Eurasian and African plates, which runs along the northern part of Africa and the Apennine Peninsula. The European and African plate boundaries outline the identified Western-Mediterranean plate, which mainly consists of the oceanic and thinned continental lithospheres of the Algerian-Provence and Tyrrhenian basins.  相似文献   

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