Late Cretaceous Post-Rift to Convergence in Iberia

Abstract

Major changes occurred in Iberia during the Late Cretaceous. First, the cessation of the previous rifting episode derived into generalized thermal subsidence in all basins, which in conjunction with warm climate and high sea-levels promoted the widest carbonate platforms ever in Iberia. Second, that post-rift interval was punctuated regionally by a series of tectonic episodes related to intraplate stresses which induced complex paleogeographic patterns, and locally by intense salt tectonics. And third, the onset of Africa-Iberia-Europe convergence, which started in Santonian times, determined the first Alpine contractional episodes in Iberia, which caused major changes in all sedimentary basins. The chapter reviews all those points in an integrated approach through the basins of Iberia.