Crustal structure and orogenic material budget in the west central Pyrenees

Teixell, Antonio

doi:10.1029/98tc00561

Cited by 296 publications

(334 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…11). The sample area covered by the wells has avoided regions where provenance data indicate that there is evidence for significant volumes of material being derived from the Iberian Range and Catalan Coastal Ranges (Allen and Mange-Rajetsky, 1982;Villena and others, 1996;Teixell, 1998). However, these data do not incorporate regions where sediment is now incorporated into the thrust wedge, such as the Jaca Basin in the west, and in the northern flank of the Ripoll Basin in the east where up to 5 km of sub-vertical lower to middle Eocene strata are partially preserved (Vergés, 1999).…”

Section: Foreland Basin Sedimentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetric growth of the Pyrenees revealed through measurement and modeling of orogenic fluxes

Sinclair¹

2005

American Journal of Science

150

270

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ABSTRACT. Orogenic asymmetry is ubiquitous in terms of topography, structure and metamorphism, but the relative influences of climate and tectonics in determining such asymmetry remain contentious. This study demonstrates that for the case of the European Pyrenees, orogenic asymmetry is not defined by inherited structural asymmetry, nor by orographic asymmetry of precipitation, but is the simple consequence of the inherent tectonic growth of a doubly-vergent orogen.The Discrete element model experiments are used to explore the natural tendency of the system towards asymmetry. Model output demonstrates that during active frontal accretion to the pro-wedge of an orogen, the maxima in erosional denudation is offset towards the pro-wedge relative to the maximum depths of exhumation. This asymmetry is fundamentally driven by the progressive reduction in advection velocities of material within the orogen from the pro-wedge into the retro-wedge. Hence, for an efficient erosional regime, a dynamic coupling between erosion and structural uplift of the pro-wedge will reduce activity of the retro-wedge and hence drive asymmetry in terms of low temperature thermochronometry, erosion and sedimentation. The models also demonstrate the tendency for pro-wedge growth through frontal accretion to slow. However, the cessation of frontal accretion as recorded by the South Pyrenean Thrust Belt (phases 3 and 4) requires additional forcing; it is proposed that the thick wedge-top sedimentation recorded at this time, increased taper angles and hence stabilized the wedge. Accretionary influx into the orogen at this time was accomplished through underplating. These processes governing asymmetry do not require a spatially variable climate or a laterally heterogeneous underthrust plate.

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Section: Foreland Basin Sedimentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetric growth of the Pyrenees revealed through measurement and modeling of orogenic fluxes

Sinclair¹

2005

American Journal of Science

150

270

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“…Balanced and restored cross sections were constructed not only to integrate geophysical and geological data but also to estimate the amount of orogenic contraction (Figure 3) Teixell, 1996Teixell, , 1998]. …”

Section: Geodynamic Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors controlling the Alpine evolution of the central Pyrenees inferred from a comparison of observations and geodynamical models

Beaumont¹,

Muñoz²,

Hamilton³

et al. 2000

J. Geophys. Res.

309

339

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Abstract. Geodynamical numerical modeling has been combined with crustal structural restoration of the central Pyrenees in order to gain insight into fundamental processes that control the evolution of collisional orogens. Models are based on deformation of the crust by stresses transmitted upward from kinematic basal boundary conditions corresponding to the subduction of part of the lithosphere. The influence of inherited crustal heterogeneities, denudation, subcrustal loads, and crustal mechanical properties, consistent with wellconstrained crustal partial restored cross sections of the central Pyrenees, is investigated by progressively incorporating them into model experiments. The primary result inferred from the modeling is that the asymmetry of the central Pyrenees double-wedge, seen as strain partitioning and in the morphological evolution, is a consequence of the asymmetric distribution of inherited crustal heterogeneity. The tectonic style of the central Pyrenees is the result of the inversion of the Early Cretaceous extensional fault system, during the early stages of the collision, and the reactivation of Hercynian heterogeneities during the late stages. Most of the upper crustal mass that entered the orogen during the calculated 165 km of convergence was accommodated by an increase of upper crustal cross sectional area or lost by denudation. To explain the upper crustal mass partitioning, as well as the geometry of the foreland basins and the preservation of synorogenic deposits in piggyback basins, a subduction load has to be applied to the models. Lower crust and mantle lithosphere were consumed by the mantle.

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“…To the east, the Pyrenean arm of the Mesozoic Bay of Biscay-Pyrenean rift system has been sandwiched between the subducting Iberian Plate and the overriding Eurasian one (e.g. Choukroune et al, 1989;Muñoz, 1992;Teixell, 1998;Pedreira et al, 2007;Roca et al, 2011), which resulted in the development of a doubly vergent orogen. In the western portion of the Pyrenean orogen, hereinafter named Cantabrian domain, convergence involved the deformation of the southern passive margin of the Mesozoic rift system (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1a) (e.g. Choukroune et al, 1989;Roure et al, 1989;Muñoz, 1992;Pulgar et al, 1996;Teixell, 1998;Gallastegui, 2000;Vergés et al, 1995Vergés et al, , 2002Pedreira et al, 2007;Jammes et al, 2009). To the east, the Pyrenean arm of the Mesozoic Bay of Biscay-Pyrenean rift system has been sandwiched between the subducting Iberian Plate and the overriding Eurasian one (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plate kinematics in the Cantabrian domain of the Pyrenean orogen

Tavani

2012

Solid Earth

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The Cantabrian domain represents the western portion of the Pyrenean orogen, in the area where the Iberian continental lithosphere was subducted toward the north underneath the transitional to oceanic lithosphere of the Bay of Biscay. There, the about 100 km of orogenic convergence have been mostly accommodated in the northern portion of the orogen (i.e. the retro wedge) developed in the Bay of Biscay abyssal plain, while only crustal-scale folding with limited internal deformation occurred in the Cantabrian southern wedge (pro-wedge). Integrated meso- and macrostructural analyses and a reappraisal of available information from the transitional area between the Pyrenean and Cantabrian domains are presented in this work, allowing to set geometric and kinematic constraints on the entire Meso-Cenozoic history of the northern portion of the Iberian Plate, including subduction initiation and evolution in the western portion of the Pyrenean orogen. <br><br> The structural record of the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous deformation stage, which was associated with rifting and seafloor spreading in the Bay of Biscay, indicates a ridge perpendicular (NNE-SSW oriented) extension, with no evidence of relevant strike-slip components during rifting. A Cenozoic NNW-SSE oriented shortening stage followed, related to the limited (about 100 km) north-directed subduction of the Iberian continental lithosphere underneath the transitional to oceanic lithosphere of the Bay of Biscay. Subduction led to the formation of the poorly-developed Cantabrian pro-wedge, which is laterally juxtaposed to the well-developed Pyrenean pro-wedge to the east. During this convergence stage, the structural framework in the Cantabrian pro-wedge, and particularly along its transition with the Pyrenean wedge to the east, was severely complicated by the reactivation of Paleozoic and Mesozoic inherited structures. <br><br> Data presented in this work fully support the development of the Cantabrian Mountains as related to indentation and consequent thickening of the Bay of Biscay transitional lower crust during north-directed subduction of Iberian continental lithosphere. In essence, the Cantabrian pro-wedge is a lithospheric south-verging fault-propagation anticline developing above the subduction plane. The structural record in the area indicates that a lithospheric fault-propagation folding stage was predated, during the very early stages of orogenic shortening, by the development of a lithospheric-scale open syncline overlying the nucleation point of lithosphere sinking. Such a syncline is today partially preserved and represents one of the few natural examples of subduction initiation

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Crustal structure and orogenic material budget in the west central Pyrenees

Cited by 296 publications

References 42 publications

Asymmetric growth of the Pyrenees revealed through measurement and modeling of orogenic fluxes

Asymmetric growth of the Pyrenees revealed through measurement and modeling of orogenic fluxes

Factors controlling the Alpine evolution of the central Pyrenees inferred from a comparison of observations and geodynamical models

Plate kinematics in the Cantabrian domain of the Pyrenean orogen

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