Uppermost Tortonian to Quaternary depocentre migration related with segmentation of the strike-slip Palomares Fault Zone, Vera Basin (SE Spain)

Abstract

The Palomares Fault Zone (PFZ) is one of the main strike-slip brittle shear zones found in the Betics. It is segmented in several faults that have been active between the Upper Tortonian and present day. Data from drill cores in the Palomares area have permitted us to define the geometry and location of sedimentary depocentres related with the PFZ. These data show an eastward displacement between the Upper Tortonian to Messinian and the Pliocene-Quaternary sedimentary depocentres, towards the presently active Arteal fault, which bounds the western mountain front of Sierra Almagrera, showing that deformation along this fault zone has migrated towards the east, from the Palomares segment, with its main activity during the Upper Tortonian and Messinian, towards the Arteal fault, active during the Pliocene and Quaternary.

Recent and active faults and folds in the central-eastern Internal Zones of the Betic Cordillera

“…Close to Somontín, the Quaternary sediments are deformed by a NW-SE oriented high-dipping fault Augier, 2004;Augier et al, 2005;Meijninger and Vissers, 2006;Pedrera et al, 2007;Pedrera et al, 2010a). The study area was deformed by a succession of kilometric scale folds with orientations ranging from E-W to ENE-WSW: the Sierra de Los Filabres and Sierra de Almagro antiforms, Almanzora corridor synform and Sierra de Las Estancias antiform (Booth-Rea et al, 2003, 2004Pedrera et al, 2007Pedrera et al, , 2009b. The antiforms coincide with the ranges where the metamorphic rocks crop out, while the synforms correspond to the sedimentary basins.…”

“…However, controversy persists concerning the deep continuity of the structures, the relationships of the exposes faults with seismicity, the driving mechanisms, and in some cases the age of fault activity. On the other hand, there is a general consensus regarding the features of the major left-lateral Palomares fault zone (PFZ), which developed since the late Tortonian in the eastern part of the Sorbas-Vera basin (e.g., Bousquet and Phillip, 1976;Bousquet, 1979;Montenat et al, 1987;Weijermars, 1987;Ott d'Estevou et al, 1990;Silva et al, 1993;Booth-Rea et al, 2003).…”

“…Therefore, two GHSRFHQWHUV ¿OOHG E\ ODWHVW 7RUWRQLDQ WR 4XDWHUQDU\ VHGLments are linked to the movement of Arteal and Palomares fault segments ( Fig. 4C; Booth-Rea et al, 2003). Thus, the PFZ is considered a transcurrent deformation zone Argamasón active during most of the Neogene and Quaternary (e.g., Montenat et al, 1987;Ott d'Estevou et al 1990;Silva et al, 1993;Ruano et al, 2007).…”

“…It is widely accepted that compressional and extensional structures have deformed the Internal Zones of the Betic Cordillera since the Late Miocene. This region exhibits a variety of deformational styles, dominated by folds, right-lateral and normal faults in the central Betics (e.g., Galindo-Zaldívar et al, 2003), and by large left-lateral strike-slip faults in the eastern sector of the cordillera that also interact with folds and normal/normal-oblique faults (e.g., Martínez-Díaz, 2002;Masana et al, 2004;Booth-Rea et al, 2003;Pedrera et al, 2010a). The present study attempts to sketch a coherent picture of these recent tectonic structures that deform the central-eastern (from the longitude 3.1ºW to 1.7ºW and to the south of 37.525ºN) Internal Zones of the Betic Cordillera (Fig.…”

Evidence for Late Messinian seismites, Nijar Basin, south‐east Spain

“…Three major strike-slip zones are important ( Fig. 1): (i) the offshore NE-SW oriented sinistral Trans-Alboran Shear (de Larouzière et al, 1988) and its onshore continuation, the Carboneras fault zone (CFZ) which forms the NW boundary of the dominantly volcanic Cabo de Gata massif; (ii) the large west to east-trending dextral Alpujarras fault zone (AFZ; Martinez-Diaz & Hernandez-Enrile, 2004) and its eastward extension along the northern margin of Sierra Alhamilla, into Sierra Cabrera known as the Gafarillos fault zone where it intersects the CFZ; and (iii) the NNE-SSW orientated, sinistral Palomares fault which was particularly active during the Messinian (Jonk & Biermann, 2002;Booth-Rea et al, 2003). During the Tortonian, compression with a NW-SE orientation caused mainly dextral displacements along the west to east-orientated faults, such as the Gafarillos fault zone.…”