Ángel Carlos López Garrido

Tectonic evolution of the Málaga Basin (Betic Cordillera). Regional implications

AbstractDuring the Neogene (uppermost Aquitanian-Lower Burdigalian, Tortonian and Pliocene), three successive marine episodes took place in the present-day Malaga Basin. The first of these affected a wide area of the Belic Internal Zones and was brought to an abrupt conclusion by the westward displacement of these Zones, together with important horizontal movements associated with N70-100 direction strike-slip faults and the superposition of materials from the Campo de Gibraltar. The two other marine episodes were clearly controlled by vertical movements of NW-SE and NK-SW faults, caused by a clear E-W distension which, according to regional data, was associated with some compression in an approximately N-S direction. The area has also been affected, although to a lesser extent, by the uplift of the Betic Cordillera from the Upper Miocene to the present day.

Palaeogeography of the late aquitanian-early Burdigalian basin in the western Betic Internal Zone

Abstract The discovery of new outcrops of transgressive sediments in the western Betic Internal Zone belonging to the UpperAquitanian-Lower Burdigalian (Blows N.4?, N.5 and N.6 zones of planktonic foraminifera and CN-1C calcareous nannoplankton of Okada & Bukry) shows that the basin was very large and was not restricted to the frontal part of the Internal Zone. This basin was formed in a distensive environment where marine sediments rich in siliceous materials accumulated at a depth of several hundred metres. It was tectonically controlled by faults at present showing an approximately N90 direction, which delimited several subsiding areas, between which some reliefs emerged. Sedimentation was interrupted by the tectonic superposition of the Campo de Gibraltar Complex during the Early Burdigalian. The evolution of the basin took place in the context of the important events occurring at this time in the western Mediterranean, particularly the uppermost Aquitanian-Burdigalian distension and the westward displacement of the Betic-Rifian Internal zone.