Palaeogene evolution of deformation in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

During the Palaeogene Alpine compression three units were differentiated in the studied area (south of the Ebro Basin): the Catalan Coastal Range, dominated by NE-SW major basement faults with a sinistral movement; The Iberian Range, where the important basement faults have a NW-SE direction and a reverse movement (often with a dextral component); the Linking Zone, between these two ranges, where an E-W dominant structural direction is marked by an array of folds and thrusts (with a northward vergence) in the Mesozoic cover. From the analysis of both these major structures and the small-scale structures, it can be deduced that the compression in the studied area has evolved from a NW-SE direction (lower-middle Eocene) to a N-S direction and to a NE-SW one (uppermost Oligocene). The major structures are due to the N-S compression. Later, the stress-field progressively changed to a distensive regime. We suggest a relation between the compressive phases and the displacement direction of the Iberian Plate with reference to the European Plate. © 1984, Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.