Mesozoic rotation of Iberia: Subduction in the Pyrenees?

Vissers, R. L. M.; Meijer, Paul

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2011.11.001

Cited by 137 publications

(163 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…The rest will be associated to the denudation of the Mesozoic in the continental margins in parallel to the opening of the exhumed peridotite domain, which was not considered before. Certainly the contrast that still remains between the shortening here calculated from geological data with the 160-180 km of Iberia-Europe convergence since the late Cretaceous required by certain plate kinematic models (see synthesis in Vissers andMeijer, 2011 andMouthereau et al, 2014) leads to enquire about possible sources of shortening underestimation. We argue that there is little degree of freedom to increase the values of total shortening by a significant amount.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We argue that there is little degree of freedom to increase the values of total shortening by a significant amount. Vissers andMeijer (2011), Jammes et al (2014) and Mouthereau et al (2014) suggested a significant component of shortening (ranging between 300 km and 50-60 km) that left no signal as it was accommodated by subduction of a wide peridotite domain. This could have been the case as long as the sedimentary cover of that hyperextended domain was dragged down by the peridotite and subducted into the mantle.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The crustal evolution of the west-central Pyrenees revisited: Inferences from a new kinematic scenario

Teixell¹,

Labaume

Lagabrielle

2016

Comptes Rendus. Géoscience

145

250

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New evolutionary models for the Pyrenean orogeny must consider feedbacks between the midCretaceous hyperextension postulated recently and the Pyrenean inversion. We present a new crustal section of the Pyrenees through the Jaca basin, the western Axial Zone and the Chaînons Béarnais which allows identifying the ancient continental margins of the Iberian and European plates and a suture. A sequential restoration allows a reassessment of the style of convergence through time. Restoration leads to a progressively thinned crust in narrow continental margins separated by a domain of exhumed mantle peridotite and overlain by a detached sedimentary lid. Early convergence during the late Cretaceous and earliest Paleogene was accommodated by subduction of the peridotite domain. This was followed in the Eocene by initial collision involving overriding of the Iberian margin onto the European margin along the deep ramp of the NorthPyrenean Frontal thrust, which defines the suture. Subsequent full collision and strong relief generation from the late Eocene to the early Miocene were associated to thrust accretion of the Iberian plate, underlain by wedging and northward subduction of decoupled Iberian lower crust.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The crustal evolution of the west-central Pyrenees revisited: Inferences from a new kinematic scenario

Teixell¹,

Labaume

Lagabrielle

2016

Comptes Rendus. Géoscience

145

250

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“…Arguing for a scissor-type rotational opening of the Bay of Biscay (with convergence in the Pyrenees) in Aptian-Albian times, Vissers and Meijer (2012) Iberia suggested by an interpretation of the Atlantic magnetic anomalies (Klitgord and Schouten, 1986;Srivastava et al, 1990). Most relevant for the hyperextended margins geometry would be the possibility of large strike-slip displacement in the Pyrenean-Bay of Biscay basin during the Albian-Cenomanian as proposed by certain reconstructions (Le Pichon and Sibuet, 1971;Klitgord and Schouten, 1986;Olivet, 1996).…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…50 Ma (after data from Vacherat et al, 2014 andBosch et al, 2016). Vissers and Meijer (2012) added a 300 km-wide exhumed mantle domain to the scheme by Beaumont et al (2012), initiating convergence at 121 Ma and placing the collision in the ECORS-Pyrenees transect at 83 Ma.…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crustal structure and evolution of the Pyrenean-Cantabrian belt: A review and new interpretations from recent concepts and data

et al. 2018

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International audienceThis paper provides a synthesis of current data and interpretations on the crustal structure of the Pyrenean-Cantabrian orogenic belt, and presents new tectonic models for representative transects. The Pyrenean orogeny lasted from Santonian (~84 Ma) to early Miocene times (~20 Ma), and consisted of a spatial and temporal succession of oceanic crust/exhumed mantle subduction, rift inversion and continental collision processes at the Iberia-Eurasia plate boundary. A good coverage by active-source (vertical-incidence and wide-angle reflection) and passive-source (receiver functions) seismic studies, coupled with surface data have led to a reasonable knowledge of the present-day crustal architecture of the Pyrenean-Cantabrian belt, although questions remain. Seismic imaging reveals a persistent structure, from the central Pyrenees to the central Cantabrian Mountains, consisting of a wedge of Eurasian lithosphere indented into the thicker Iberian plate, whose lower crust is detached and plunges northwards into the mantle. For the Pyrenees, a new scheme of relationships between the southern upper crustal thrust sheets and the Axial Zone is here proposed. For the Cantabrian belt, the depth reached by the N-dipping Iberian crust and the structure of the margin are also revised.The common occurrence of lherzolite bodies in the northern Pyrenees and the seismic velocity and potential field record of the Bay of Biscay indicate that the precursor of the Pyrenees was a hyperextended and strongly segmented rift system, where narrow domains of exhumed mantle separated the thinned Iberian and Eurasian continental margins since the Albian-Cenomanian. The exhumed mantle in the Pyrenean rift was largely covered by a Mesozoic sedimentary lid that had locally glided along detachments in Triassic evaporites. Continental margin collision in the Pyrenees was preceded by subduction of the exhumed mantle, accompanied by the pop-up thrust expulsion of the off-scraped sedimentary lid above. To the west, oceanic subduction of the Bay of Biscay under the North Iberian margin is supported by an upper plate thrust wedge, gravity and magnetic anomalies, and 3D inclined sub-crustal reflections. However, discrepancies remain for the location of continent-ocean transitions in the Bay of Biscay and for the extent of oceanic subduction. The plate-kinematic evolution during the Mesozoic, which involves issues as the timing and total amount of opening, as well as the role of strike-slip drift, is also under debate, discrepancies arising from first-order interpretations of the adjacent oceanic magnetic anomaly record

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“…Capitanio and Goes, 2006), which does not allow to fully constrain the Mesozoic position of Iberia. Two plate-kinematic end-member solutions, both of them based on the study of seafloor magnetic anomalies pattern in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Bay of Biscay, have been classically used to describe the Mesozoic motion of Iberia (for a recent review, see Vissers and Meijer, 2012) and, in particular, the opening of the Bay of Biscay (Fig. 1b).…”

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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Mesozoic rotation of Iberia: Subduction in the Pyrenees?

Cited by 137 publications

References 59 publications

The crustal evolution of the west-central Pyrenees revisited: Inferences from a new kinematic scenario

The crustal evolution of the west-central Pyrenees revisited: Inferences from a new kinematic scenario

Crustal structure and evolution of the Pyrenean-Cantabrian belt: A review and new interpretations from recent concepts and data

Plate kinematics in the Cantabrian domain of the Pyrenean orogen

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