Linking Palaeozoic palaeogeography of the Betic Cordillera to the Variscan Iberian Massif: new insight through the first conodonts of the Nevado-Filábride Complex

The enigmatic curvature of Central Iberia and its puzzling kinematics

“…It has overall low-grade internal deformation and metamorphism and represents the shortening that occurred during Mississippian times (e.g., Marcos and Pulgar, 1982;Pérez Estaún et al, 1988;Gutiérrez-Alonso, 1996;Alonso et al, 2009;Pastor-Galán et al, 2009, 2013b. (2) The West Asturian-Leonese Zone represents a metamorphic fold-and-thrust belt with Barrovian metamorphism that collapsed coevally with thrust emplacement onto the Cantabrian Zone (e.g., Martínez Catalán et al, 1992, 2014Alcock et al, 2009). (3) The Central Iberian Zone represents the Gondwanan hinterland with Barrovian and Buchan metamorphisms and is intruded by igneous rocks of various ages (e.g., Macaya et al, 1991;Díez Balda et al, 1995;Gutiérrez-Alonso et al, 2018).…”

“…Their lithological monotony, paucity of D. Pastor-Galán et al: The enigmatic curvature of Central Iberia fossils, and the intensity of deformation and metamorphism during Alpine orogeny make recognizing the original features of the different successions challenging (e.g., Martín-Algarra et al, 2019). Some faunal and detrital zircon studies suggest that the Paleozoic outcrops in the Betics may be similar to the most continental-ward realms of the Gondwanan platform (i.e., the Cantabrian Zone; e.g., Rodríguez-Cañero et al, 2018;Jabaloy-Sánchez et al, 2018). Following the latest plate reconstructions of the Mediterranean during Mesozoic-Cenozoic times, the Paleozoic units of the Betic-Rif chain may have been located proximal to the present-day position of the Balearic Islands (van Hinsbergen et al, 2020).…”

“…The development of the Cantabrian Orocline requires the existence of a roughly linear orogenic belt during the early Variscan closure of the Rheic Ocean (with a roughly N-S orientation in present-day coordinates), which was subsequently bent in plan view into an orocline during the late stages of Pangea's amalgamation. Such an interpretation is grounded in extensive paleomagnetic studies (e.g., Hirt et al, 1992;Parés et al, 1994;Stewart, 1995;van der Voo et al, 1997;Weil, 2006;Weil et al, 2000Weil et al, , 2001Weil et al, , 2010b, as well as through important contributions from structural (e.g., Gutiérrez-Alonso, 1992;Kollmeier et al, 2000;Merino-Tomé et al, 2009;Pastor-Galán et al, 2011, 2014Shaw et al, 2015) and geochronological studies (e.g., Tohver et al, 2008;Gutiérrez-Alonso et al, 2015). Weil et al (2013) provided a comprehensive review of the kinematic constraints, which were updated by Pastor-Galán et al (2017a) and by Weil et al (2019).…”

“…In addition to their astonishing visual impact, marking the locations where ancient and modern plates collided, orogenic belts often preserve a variety of rocks that have the potential to illuminate the entirety of the system's pre-and synorogenic histories. One of the striking characteristics of most of Earth's orogens is their curvature in plan view (e.g., van der Voo, 2004; Marshak, 2004;Rosenbaum, 2014). The degree of orogenic curvature may range from a few degrees of deflection in structural trend (e.g., Kopet Dag, Iran) to 180 • of arc curvature (e.g., Kazakhstan arc and the Carpathians).…”

The enigmatic curvature of Central Iberia and its puzzling kinematics

“…Some faunal and detrital zircon studies suggest that the Paleozoic outcrops in the Betics may be similar to the most seaward realms of the Gondwanan platform (i.e., the Cantabrian Zone; e.g. Rodríguez-Cañero et al, 2018;Jabaloy-Sánchez et al, 2018). The Variscan orogen in Iberia shows multiple deformation, metamorphic, and magmatic events (e.g.…”