The Neogene-Quaternary Alkaline Volcanism of Iberia

Abstract

Neogene-Quaternary alkaline volcanism is widely dis- tributed along an extensive rifts system in central and Western Europe, including the Rhenish Massif and Rhinegraben of Germany, the Massif Central of France, and the western Pannonian Basin in Eastern Europe. This rifts system evolved in the Alpine foreland during late Eocene to Recent times, being its development contem- poraneous with the main and late Alpine orogenic phases. In the Iberian Peninsula this rifts system and its associated alkaline volcanism is present along its eastern coast (Valencia Trough and eastern sector of the Betic Cordilleras), and also at the interior of the peninsula (Campo de Calatrava and Volcanic Province). All these volcanic zones share common petrological, structural, and volcanological characteristics with those other zones from the European rifts system. The main characteristics of the Neogene-Quaternary alkaline volcanism are described and discussed.